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THE  ELEGANT  ART  OF  DINING 


^•v 


THE  OLD 

CODWEH  PALACE  AT 

MEIGGS'S  WHARF 


BOHEMIAN 
SAN  FRANCISCO 

ITS  RESTAURANTS 

AND  THEIR  MOST  FAMOUS 

RECIPES  •  THE  ELEGANT 

ART  OF  DINING 

By 
CLARENCE  E.  EDWORDS 


PAUL  ELDER  AND  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT,  1914,  BY 

PALL  ELDER  AND  COMPANY 

SAN  FRANCISCO 


f 


LIBRARY 

UMVERSITY  OF  CAT.IFORNIA 

SA.\TA  BARBARA 


DEDICATION 

TO  WHOM  SHALL  I  DEDICATE  THIS  BOOK? 

TO  SOME  GOOD  FRIEND?      TO  SOME  PLEASANT  COMPANION? 

TO  NONE  OF  THESE,  FOR  FROM  THEM  CAME  NOT  THE  INSPIRATION. 

TO  WHOM,  THEN? 

TO  THE  BEST  OF  ALL  BOHEMIAN  COMRADES, 

MY  WIFE. 


FOREWORD 

No  apologies  are  offered  for  this  book.  In  fact,  we 
rather  like  it.  Many  years  have  been  spent  in  gathering 
this  information,  and  naught  is  written  in  malice,  nor 
through  favoritism,  our  expressions  of  opinion  being 
unbiased  by  favor  or  compensation.  We  have  made 
our  own  investigation  and  given  our  own  ideas. 

That  our  opinion  does  not  coincide  with  that  of 
others  does  not  concern  us  in  the  least,  for  we  are 
pleased  only  with  that  which  pleases  us,  and  not  that 
with  which  others  say  we  ought  to  be  pleased. 

If  this  sound  egotistical  we  are  sorry,  for  it  is  not 
meant  in  that  way.  We  believe  that  each  and  every 
individual  should  judge  for  him  or  herself,  considering 
ourselves  fortunate  that  our  ideas  and  tastes  are  held  in 
common. 

San  Franciscans,  both  residential  and  transient,  are 
a  pleasure-loving  people,  and  dining  out  is  a  distinc- 
tive feature  of  their  pleasure.  With  hundreds  of  res- 
taurants to  select  from,  each  specializing  on  some 
particular  dish,  or  some  peculiar  mode  of  preparation, 
one  often  becomes  bewildered  and  turns  to  familiar 
names  on  the  menu  card  rather  than  venture  into  fields 
that  are  new,  of  strange  and  rare  dishes  whose  un- 
pronounceable names  of  themselves  frequently  are 
sufficient  to  discourage  those  unaccustomed  to  the  art 
and  science  of  cooking  practiced  by  those  whose  lives 
have  been  spent  devising  means  of  tickling  fastidious 
palates  of  a  city  of  gourmets. 

In  order  that  those  who  come  within  our  gates,  and 
many  others  who  have  resided  here  in  blindness  for 
years,  may  know  where  to  go  and  what  to  eat,  and 
that  they  may  carry  away  with  them  a  knowledge  of 
how  to  prepare  some  of  the  dishes  pleasing  to  the  taste 
and  nourishing  to  the  body,  that  have  spread  San 
Francisco's  fame  over  the  world,  we  have  decided  to 
set  down  the  result  of  our  experience  and  study  of 

ix 


FOREWORD 

our  Bohemian  population  and  their  ways,  and  also  tell 
where  to  find  and  how  to  order  the  best  special  dishes. 
Over  North  Beach  way  we  asked  the  chef  of  a  little 
restaurant  how  he  cooked  crab.    He  replied: 
"The  right  way." 
One  often  wonders  how  certain  dishes  are  cooked 
and  we  shall  tell  you  "the  right  way." 

It  is  hoped  that  when  you  read  what  is  herein 
written  some  of  our  pleasure  may  be  imparted  to  you, 
and  with  this  hope  the  story  of  San  Francisco's  Bo- 
hemianism  is  presented. 

Clarence  E.  Edwords. 
San  Francisco,  California, 
September  22,  lOU. 


Our  Toast 

Not  to  the  Future,  nor  to  the  Past; 
No  drink  of  Joy  or  Sorrow; 
We  drink  alone  to  what  will  last; 
Memories  on  the  Morrow. 
Let  us  live  as  Old  Time  passes; 
To  the  Present  let  Bohemia  bow. 
Let  us  raise  on  high  our  glasses 
To  Eternity -the  ever-living  Now. 


CONTENTS 

Foreword ix 

The  Good  Gray  City 3 

The  Land  of  Bohemia 6 

As  It  Was  in  the  Beginning 8 

When  the  Gringo  Game 10 

Early  Italian  Impression 12 

Birth  of  the  French  Restaurant         ...  16 

At  the  Cliff  House 21 

Some  Italian  Restaurants 23 

Impress  of  Mexico 29 

On  the  Barbary  Coast 33 

The  City  That  Was  Passes 35 

Sang  the  Swan  Song 36 

Bohemia  of  the  Present 41 

As  It  Is  in  Germany 46 

In  the  Heart  of  Italy 50 

A  Breath  of  the  Orient 54 

Artistic  Japan 57 

Old  and  New  Palace 60 

At  the  Hotel  St.  Francis 63 

Amid  the  Bright  Lights 65 

Around  Little  Italy 66 

Where  Fish  Come  in 76 

Fish  in  Their  Variety 80 

Lobsters  and  Lobsters 85 

King  of  Shell  Fish 87 

Lobster  in  Miniature 89 

Clams  and  Abalones 91 

Where  Fish  Abound 94 

Some  Food  Variants 97 

xiii 


CONTENTS 

About  Dining 100 

SoMKTiiiNG  About  Cooking 106 

Told  in  a  Whisper 110 

Out  of  Nothing 115 

Paste  Makes  Waist 117 

Tips  and  Tipping 119 

The  Mythical  Land 121 

Appendix  (How  to  Serve  Wines,  Recipes)        .        .  125 
Index 137 


TUf 


BOHEMIAN 
SAN  FRANCISCO 


"The  best  of  all  ways 
To  lengthen  our  days 
Is  to  steal  a  few  hours 
From  the  night,  my  dear. 


1 


SAN   FRANCISCO 

San  Francisco!     Is  there  a  land  where  the  magic 
of  that  name  has  not  been  felt?    Bohemian  San  Fran- 
cisco !  Pleasure-loving  San  Francisco ! 
Care-free  San  Francisco !    Yet  withal      THE  GOOD 
the  city  where  liberty  never  means  GRAY 

license   and   where   Bohemianism   is  CITY 

not  synonymous  with  Boorishness. 

It  was  in  Paris  that  a  world  traveler  said  to  us: 
"San  Francisco!    That  wonderful  city  where  you  get 
the  best  there  is  to  eat,  served  in  a  manner  that  en- 
hances  its  flavor  and   establishes   it  forever  in  your 
memory." 

Were  one  to  write  of  San  Francisco  and  omit  men- 
tion of  its  gustatory  delights  the  whole  world  would 
protest,  for  in  San  Francisco  eating  is  an  art  and  cook- 
ing a  science,  and  he  who  knows  not  what  San  Fran- 
cisco provides  knows  neither  art  nor  science. 

Here  have  congregated  the  world's  greatest  chefs, 
and  when  one  exclaims  in  ecstacy  over  a  wonderful 
flavor  found  in  some  dingy  restaurant,  let  him  not  be 
surprised  if  he  learn  that  the  chef  who  concocted  the 
dish  boasts  royal  decoration  for  tickling  the  palate  of 
some  epicurean  ruler  of  foreign  land. 

And  why  should  San  Francisco  have  achieved  this 
distinction  in  the  minds  of  the  gourmets? 

Do  not  other  cities  have  equally  as  good  chefs,  and 
do  not  the  people  of  other  cities  have  equally  as  fine 
gastronomic  taste? 

They  have  all  this  but  with  them  is  lacking  "at- 
mosphere." 

Where  do  we  find  such  romanticism  as  in  San 
Francisco?  Where  do  we  find  so  many  strange  char- 
acters and  happenings?  All  lending  almost  mystic 
charm  to  the  environment  surrounding  queer  little 
restaurants,  where  rare  dishes  are  served,  and  where 
one  feels  that  he  is  in  foreign  land,  even  though  he  be 
in  the  center  of  a  high  representative  American  city. 


BOHEMIAN 

San    Francisco's    cosmopolitanism    is    peculiar    to 

itself.     Here  are  represented  the  nations  of  earth  in 

such    distinctive    colonies    that    one 

THE  GOOD       might    well    imagine    himself    pos- 

GRAY  sessed  of   the   magic  carpet   told  of 

CITY  in   Arabian    Nights   Talcs,    as    he    is 

transported   in   the   twinkling  of  an 

eye  from  country  to  country.    It  is  but  a  step  across  a 

street  from  America  into  Japan,  then  another  step  into 

China.     Cross  another  street  and  you  are  in  Mexico, 

close  neighbor  to  France.    Around  the  corner  lies  Italy, 

and  from  Italy  you  pass  to  Lombardy,  and  on  to  Greece. 

So  it  goes  until  one  feels  that  he  has  been  around  the 

world  in  an  afternoon. 

But  the  stepping  across  the  street  and  one  passes 
from  one  land  to  the  other,  finding  all  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  the  various  countries  as  indelibly 
fixed  as  if  they  were  thousands  of  miles  away.  Speech, 
manners,  customs,  costumes  and  religions  change  with 
startling  rapidity,  and  as  you  enter  into  the  life  of  the 
nation  you  find  that  each  has  brought  the  best  of  its 
gastronomy  for  your  delectation. 

San  Francisco  has  called  to  the  world  for  its  best, 
and  the  response  has  been  so  prompt  that  no  country 
has  failed  to  send  its  tribute  and  give  the  best  thought 
of  those  who  cater  to  the  men  and  women  who  know. 

This  aggregation  of  cuisinaire,  gathered  where  is  to 
be  found  a  most  wonderful  variety  of  food  products  in 
highest  state  of  excellence,  has  made  San  Francisco  the 
Mecca  for  lovers  of  gustatory  delights,  and  this  is  why 
the  name  of  San  Francisco  is  known  wherever  men  and 
women  sit  at  table. 

It  has  taken  us  years  of  patient  research  to  learn 
how  these  chefs  j)repare  their  combinations  of  fish, 
Hesli,  fowl,  and  herbs,  in  order  that  we  might  put  them 
down,  giving  recipes  of  dishes  whose  memories  linger 
in  the  minds  of  world  wanderers,  and  to  which  their 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

thoughts  revert  with  a  sigh  as  they  partake  of  unsatis- 
factory viands  in  other  countries  and  other  cosmopol- 
itan cities. 

Those  to  whom  only  the  surface       THE  GOOD 
of  things  is  visible  are  prone  to  ex-  GRAY 

press  wonder  at  the  love  and  enthu-  CITY 

siasm  of  the  San  Franciscan  for  his 
home  city.  The  casual  visitor  cannot  understand  the 
enchantment,  the  mystery,  the  witchery  that  holds  one; 
they  do  not  know  that  we  steal  the  hours  from  the 
night  to  lengthen  our  days  because  the  gray,  whispering 
wraiths  of  fog  hold  for  us  the  very  breath  of  life;  they 
do  not  know  that  the  call  of  the  wind,  and  of  the  sea, 
and  of  the  air,  is  the  inspiration  that  makes  San  Fran- 
cisco the  pleasure-ground  of  the  world. 

It  is  this  that  makes  San  Francisco  the  home  of 
Bohemia,  and  whether  it  be  in  the  early  morning  hours 
as  one  rises  to  greet  the  first  gray  streaks  of  dawn,  or 
as  the  sun  drops  through  the  Golden  Gate  to  its  ocean 
bed,  so  slowly  that  it  seems  loth  to  leave;  whether  it  be 
in  the  broad  glare  of  noon-day  sun,  or  under  the  daz- 
zling blaze  of  midnight  lights,  San  Francisco  ever  holds 
out  her  arms,  wide  in  welcome,  to  those  who  see  more 
in  life  than  the  dull  routine  of  working  each  day  in 
order  that  they  may  gain  sufficient  to  enable  them  to 
work  again  on  the  morrow. 


BOHEMIAN 

Bohemia!  What  vulgarities  are  perpetrated  in  thy 
name!  How  abused  is  the  word!  Because  of  a  miscon- 
ception of  an  idea  it  has  suffered 
THE  LAND  more  than  any  other  in  the  English 
OF  language.     It  has  done  duty  in   de- 

BOHEMIA  scribing  almost  every  form  of  license 
and  licentiousness.  It  has  been  the 
cloak  of  debauchery  and  the  excuse  for  sex  degrada- 
tion. It  has  been  so  misused  as  to  bring  the  very  word 
into  disrepute. 

To  us  Bohemianism  means  the  naturalism  of  re- 
fined people. 

That  it  may  be  protected  from  vulgarians  Society 
prescribes  conventional  rules  and  regulations,  which, 
like  morals,  change  with  environment. 

Bohemianism  is  the  protest  of  naturalism  against 
the  too  rigid,  and,  oft-times,  absurd  restrictions  estab- 
lished by  Society. 

The  Bohemian  requires  no  prescribed  rules,  for  his 
or  her  innate  gentility  prevents  those  things  Society 
guards  against.  In  Bohemia  men  and  women  mingle 
in  good  fellowship  and  camaraderie  without  finding  the 
sex  question  a  necessary  topic  of  conversation.  They 
do  not  find  it  necessary  to  push  exhilaration  to  intoxi- 
cation; to  increase  their  animation  to  boisterousness. 
Their  lack  of  conventionality  does  not  tend  to  boor- 
ishness. 

Some  of  the  most  enjoyable  Bohemian  affairs  we 
know  of  have  been  full  dress  gatherings,  carefully 
planned  and  delightfully  carried  out;  others  have  been 
impromptu,  neither  the  hour,  the  place,  nor  the  dress 
being  taken  into  consideration. 

The  unrefined  get  everywhere,  even  into  the  draw- 
ing rooms  of  royalty,  consequently  we  must  expect  to 
meet  them  in  Bohemia.  But  the  true  Bohemian  has  a 
way  of  forgetting  to  meet  obnoxious  personages  and, 
as  a  rule,  is  more  choice  in  the  selection  of  associates 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

than  the  vaunted  "400."    With  the  Bohemian  but  one 
thing  counts:     Fitness.    Money,  position,  personal  ap- 
pearance and  even  brains  are  of  no 
avail  if  there  be  the  bar  sinister —      THE  LAND 
unfit.  OF 

In  a  restaurant,  one  evening,  a  BOHEMIA 
number  of  men  and  women  were 
seated  conspicuously  at  a  table  in  the  center  of  the 
room.  Flowing  neckties  such  as  are  affected  by  Par- 
isian art  students  were  worn  by  the  men;  all  were 
coarse,  loud  and  much  in  evidence.  They  not  only 
attracted  attention  by  their  loudness  and  outre  actions, 
but  they  called  notice  by  pelting  other  diners  with  mis- 
siles of  bread.  To  us  they  were  the  last  word  in  vul- 
garity, but  to  a  young  woman  who  had  come  to  the 
place  because  she  had  heard  it  was  "so  Bohemian"  they 
were  ideal,  and  she  remarked  to  her  companion : 

"I  do  so  love  to  associate  with  real  Bohemians  like 
these.    Can't  we  get  acquainted  with  them?" 

"Sure,"  was  the  response.    "All  we  have  to  do  is  to 
buy  them  a  drink." 

In  San  Francisco  there  are  Bohemians  and  Near- 
Bohemians,  and  if  you  are  like  the  young  woman  men- 
tioned you  are  apt  to  miss  the  real  and  take  the  imita- 
tion for  the  genuine  article. 

We  mean  no  derogation  of  San  Francisco's  restau- 
rants when  we  say  that  San  Francisco's  highest  form  of 
Bohemianism  is  rarely  in  evidence  in  restaurants.  We 
have  enjoyed  wonderful  Bohemian  dinners  in  restau- 
rants, but  the  other  diners  were  not  aware  of  it.  Some 
far  more  interesting  gatherings  have  been  in  the  rooms 
of  Bohemian  friends.  Not  always  is  it  the  artistic  com- 
bination of  famous  chef  that  brings  greatest  delight,  for 
we  have  as  frequently  had  pleasure  over  a  supper  of 
some  simple  dish  in  the  attic  room  of  a  good  friend. 
This  brings  us  to  the  crux  of  Bohemianism.  It  de- 
pends so  little  on  environment  that  it  means  nothing, 
and  so  much  on  companionship  that  it  means  all. 


BOHEMIAN 

lo  achieve  a  comprehensive  idea  of  San  Francisco's 
Bohemianism  let  us  divide  its  history  into  five  eras. 
First  we  have  the  old  Spanish  days — 
AS  IT  WAS  the  days  "before  the  Gringo  came." 
IN  THE  Then  reigned  conviviality  held  within 

BEGINNINCi  most  discreet  bounds  of  convention, 
and  it  would  be  a  misnomer,  indeed, 
lo  call  the  pre-pioneer  daj^s  of  San  Francisco  "Bo- 
hemian" in  any  sense  of  the  word. 

Courtesy  unfailing,  good-fellowship  always  in  tune, 
and  lavish  hospitality,  marked  the  days  of  the  Dons — 
those  wonderfully  considerate  hosts  who  always  placed 
a  pile  of  gold  and  silver  coins  on  the  table  of  the  guest 
chamber,  in  order  that  none  might  go  away  in  need. 
Their  feasts  were  events  of  careful  consideration  and 
long  preparation,  and  those  w^hose  memories  carry 
them  back  to  the  early  days,  recall  bounteous  loading 
of  tables  when  festal  occasion  called  for  display. 

Lips  linger  lovingly  over  such  names  as  the  Vallejos, 
the  Picos,  and  those  other  Spanish  families  who  spread 
their  hospitality  with  such  wondrous  prodigality  that 
their  open  welcome  became  a  by-word  in  all  parts  of 
the  West. 

But  it  was  not  in  the  grand  fiestas  that  the  finest  and 
most  palatable  dishes  were  to  be  found.  In  the  family 
of  each  of  these  Spanish  Grandees  were  culinary  secrets 
known  to  none  except  the  "Senora  de  la  Casa,"  and 
transmitted  by  her  to  her  sons  and  daughters. 

We  have  considered  ourselves  fortunate  in  being 
taken  into  the  confidence  of  one  of  the  descendants  of 
Senora  Benicia  Vallejo,  and  honored  with  some  of  her 
prize  recipes,  which  find  place  in  this  book,  not  as  the 
famous  recipe  of  some  Bohemian  restaurants  but  as  the 
tribute  to  the  spirit  of  the  land  that  made  those  Bo- 
hemian restaurants  possible.  Of  these  there  is  no  more 
tasty  and  satisfying  dish  than  Spanish  Eggs,  prepared 
as  follows: 

8 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Empty  a  can  of  tomatoes  in  a  frying  SPANISH 

pan;  thicken  with  bread  and  add  two  or  EGGS 

three  small  green  peppers  and  an  onion 

sliced  fine.  Add  a  little  butter  and  salt  to  taste.  Let  this  sim- 
mer gently  and  then  carefully  break  on  top  the  number  of  eggs 
desired.  Dip  the  simmering  tomato  mixture  over  the  eggs  until 
they  are  cooked. 

Another  favorite  recipe  of  Mrs.  Vallejo  was  Spanish 
Beefsteak  prepared  as  follows: 

Cut  the  steak  into  pieces  the  size  de-  SPANISH 

sired  for  serving.    Place  these  pieces  on  a        BEEFSTEAK 
meat   board   and    sprinkle   liberally    with 

flour.  With  a  wooden  corrugated  mallet  beat  the  flour  into  the 
steak.  Fry  the  steak  in  a  pan  with  olive  oil.  In  another  frying 
pan,  at  the  same  time,  fry  three  good-sized  onions  and  three 
green  peppers.  When  the  steak  is  cooked  sufliciently  put  it  to 
one  side  of  the  pan  and  let  the  oil  run  to  the  other  side.  On  the 
oil  pour  suflicient  water  to  cover  the  meat  and  add  the  onions 
and  peppers,  letting  all  simmer  for  a  few  minutes.  Serve  on 
hot  platter. 

Spanish  mode  of  cooking  rice  is  savory  and  most 
palatable,  and  Mrs.  Vallejo's  recipe  for  this  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

Slice  together  three  good-sized  onions  SPANISH 

and  three  small  green  peppers.    Fry  them  RICE 

in  olive  oil.   Take  one-half  cup  of  rice  and 

boil  it  until  nearly  done,  then  drain  it  well  and  add  it  to  the 
frying  onions  and  peppers.  Fry  all  together  until  thoroughly 
brown,  which  will  take  some  time.    Season  with  salt  and  serve. 

These  three  recipes  are  given  because  they  are 
simple  and  easily  prepared.  Many  complex  recipes 
could  be  given,  and  some  of  these  will  appear  in  the 
part  of  the  book  devoted  to  recipes,  but  when  one  con- 
siders the  simplicity  of  the  recipes  mentioned,  it  can 
readily  be  seen  that  it  takes  little  preparation  to  get 
something  out  of  the  ordinary. 


BOHEMIAN 

To  its  pioneer  days  much  of  San  Francisco's  Bo- 
hemian spirit  is  due.  When  the  cry  of  "Gold"  rang 
around  the  world  adventurous  wan- 
WHEN  THE      derers  of  all  lands  answered  the  call, 

GRINGO  ^^^  during  the  year  following  Mar- 

CAME  shall's  discovery  two  thousand  ships 

sailed  into  San  Francisco  Bay,  many 
to  be  abandoned  on  the  beach  by  the  gold-mad  throng, 
and  it  was  in  some  of  these  deserted  sailing  vessels  that 
San  Francisco's  restaurant  life  had  its  inception.  With 
the  immediately  succeeding  years  the  horde  of  gold 
hunters  was  augmented  by  those  who  brought  necessi- 
ties and  luxuries  to  exchange  for  the  yellow  metal  given 
up  by  the  streams  flowing  from  the  Mother  Lode.  With 
them  also  came  cooks  to  prepare  delectable  dishes  for 
those  who  had  passed  the  flap-jack  stage,  and  desired 
the  good  things  of  life  to  repay  them  for  the  hardships, 
privations  and  dearth  of  woman's  companionship.  As 
the  male  human  was  largely  dominant  in  numbers  it 
was  but  natural  that  they  should  gather  together  for 
companionship,  and  here  began  the  Bohemian  spirit 
that  has  marked  the  city  for  its  own  to  the  present  day. 

These  men  were  all  individualists,  and  their  indi- 
vidualism has  been  transmitted  to  their  offspring  to- 
gether with  independence  of  action.  Hence  comes  the 
Bohemianism  born  of  individuality  and  independence. 

It  was  only  natural  that  the  early  San  Franciscans 
should  foregather  where  good  cheer  was  to  be  found, 
and  the  old  El  Dorado  House,  at  Portsmouth  Square, 
was  really  what  may  be  called  the  first  Bohemian  res- 
taurant of  the  city.  So  well  was  this  place  patronized 
and  so  exorbitant  the  prices  charged  that  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  a  month  was  not  considered  an  impos- 
sible rental. 

Next  in  importance  was  the  most  fashionable  res- 
taurant of  early  days,  the  Iron  House.  It  was  built  of 
heavy  sheet  iron   that  had  been  brought  around  the 

to 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Horn  in  a  sailing  vessel,  and  catered  well,  becoming  for 
several  years  the  most  famed  restaurant  of  the  city. 
Here,  in  Montgomery  street,  between 
Jackson  and  Pacific,  was  the  rendez-      WHEN  THE 
vous  of  pioneers,  and  here  the  Society         GRINGO 
of  California  Pioneers  had  its  incep-  CAME 

tion,  receiving  impressions  felt  to  the 
present  day  in  San  Francisco  and  California  history. 
Here,  also,  was  first  served  Chicken  in  the  Shell,  the  dish 
from  which  so  many  later  restaurants  gained  fame.  The 
recipe  for  this  as  prepared  by  the  Iron  House  is  still 
extant,  and  we  are  indebted  to  a  lady,  who  was  a  little 
girl  when  that  restaurant  was  waning,  whose  mother 
secured  the  recipe.    It  was  prepared  as  follows : 

Into  a  kettle  containing  a  quart  of  water       CHICKEN  IN 
put  a  young  chicken,  one  sliced  onion,  a  THE 

bay  leaf,  two  cloves,  a  blade  of  mace  and  SHFI I 

six  pepper-corns.    Simmer  in  the  covered 

kettle  for  one  hour  and  set  aside  to  cool.  When  cool  remove 
the  meat  from  the  bones,  rejecting  the  skin.  Cut  the  meat  into 
small  dice.  Mix  in  a  saucepan,  over  a  fire  without  browning, 
a  tablespoonful  of  butter,  a  tablespoonful  of  flour,  then  add 
half  a  pint  of  cream.  Stir  this  constantly  until  it  boils,  then 
add  a  truffle,  two  dozen  mushrooms  chopped  fine,  a  dash  of 
white  pepper  and  then  the  dice  of  chicken.  Let  the  whole 
stand  in  a  bain  marie,  or  chafing  dish,  until  quite  hot.  Add  the 
yolks  of  two  eggs  and  let  cook  two  minutes.  Stir  in  half  a 
glass  of  sherry  and  serve  in  cockle  shells. 


11 


BOHEMIAN 

Almost   coincident   with   the   opening  of   the   Iron 

House  an  Italian  named  Bazzuro  took  possession  of  one 

of  the  stranded  sailing  vessels  encum- 

EARLY  bering  the  Bay,  and  anchored  it  out 

ITALIAN  in  the  water  at  the  point  where  Davis 

IMPRESSION  and  Pacific  streets  now  intersect.  He 
opened  a  restaurant  which  immedi- 
ately attracted  attention  and  gained  good  reputation 
for  its  service  and  its  cooking.  Later,  when  the  land 
was  iilled  in,  Bazzuro  built  a  house  at  almost  the  same 
spot  and  opened  his  restaurant  there,  continuing  it  up 
to  the  time  of  the  great  fire  in  1906. 

After  the  fire  one  of  the  earliest  restaurants  to  be 
established  in  that  part  of  the  city  was  Bazzuro's,  at 
the  same  corner,  and  it  is  still  run  by  the  family,  who 
took  charge  after  the  death  of  the  original  proprietor. 
Here  one  can  get  the  finest  Italian  peasant  meal  in  the 
city,  and  many  of  the  Italian  merchants  and  bankers 
still  go  there  for  their  luncheons  every  day,  preferring 
it  to  the  more  pretentious  establishments. 

The  French  peasant  style  came  a  little  later,  begin- 
ning in  a  little  dining  room  opened  in  Washington 
street,  just  above  Kearny,  by  a  French  woman  whose 
name  was  a  carefully  guarded  secret.  She  was  known 
far  and  wide  as  "Ma  Tanta"  (My  Aunt).  Her  cooking 
was  considered  the  best  of  all  in  the  city,  and  her 
patrons  sat  at  a  long  common  table,  neat  and  clean  to 
the  last  degree.  Peasant  style  of  serving  was  followed. 
First  appeared  Ma  Tanta  with  a  great  bowl  of  salad 
which  she  passed  around,  each  patron  helping  himself. 
This  was  followed  by  an  immense  tureen  of  soup,  held 
aloft  in  the  hands  of  Ma  Tanta,  and  again  each  was  his 
own  waiter.  Fish,  entree,  roast,  and  dessert,  were 
served  in  the  same  manner,  and  with  the  black  colfee 
Ma  Tanta  changed  from  servitor  to  hostess  and  sat  with 
her  guests  and  discussed  the  topics  of  the  day  on  equal 
terms. 

12 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

In  California  street,  just  below  Dupont,  the  Cali- 
fornia House  boasted  a  great  chef  in  the  person  of  John 
Somali,  who  in  later  years  opened  the 
Maison  Riche,   a   famous   restaurant  EARLY 

that  went  out  of  existence  in  the  fire  ITALIAN 

of  1906.  Gourmets  soon  discovered  IMPRESSION 
that  the  California  House  offered 
something  unusual  and  it  became  a  famed  resort. 
Somali's  specialties  were  roast  turkey,  Chateaubriand 
steak  and  coffee  frappe.  It  is  said  of  his  turkeys  that 
their  flavor  was  of  such  excellence  that  one  of  the  gour- 
mands of  that  day,  Michael  Reece,  would  always  order 
two  when  he  gave  a  dinner — one  for  his  guests  and  one 
for  himself.  It  is  also  said  that  our  well-beloved  Bo- 
hemian, Rafael  Weill,  still  holds  memories  of  the  old 
California  House,  of  which  he  was  an  habitue,  and  from 
whose  excellent  chef  he  learned  to  appreciate  the  art 
and  science  of  cooking  as  evidenced  by  the  breakfasts 
and  dinners  with  which  he  regales  his  guests  at  the 
present  day. 

But  many  of  the  hardy  pioneers  were  of  English  and 
American  stock  and  preferred  the  plainer  foods  of  their 
old  homes  to  the  highly  seasoned  dishes  of  the  Latin 
chefs,  and  to  cater  to  this  growing  demand  the  Nevada 
was  opened  in  Pine  street  between  Montgomery  and 
Kearny.  This  place  became  noted  for  its  roast  beef  and 
also  for  its  corned  beef  and  cabbage,  which  was  said  to 
be  of  most  excellent  flavor. 

Most  famous  of  all  the  old  oyster  houses  was  Man- 
nings, at  the  corner  of  Pine  and  Webb  streets.  He  spec- 
ialized in  oysters  and  many  of  his  dishes  have  survived 
to  the  present  day.  It  is  said  that  the  style  now  called 
"Oysters  Kirkpatrick,"  is  but  a  variant  of  Manning's 
"Oyster  Salt  Roast." 

At  the  corner  of  California  and  Sansome  streets, 
where  now  stands  the  Bank  of  California,  was  the 
Tehama  House,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  city's 

13 


BOHEMIAN 

early  hostclries,  whose  restaurant  was  famed  for  its 

excellence.  The  Tehama  House  was  the  rendezvous  of 

army  and  navy  officers  and  high  state 

EARLY  ofTicials.     Lieutenant  John  Derby,  of 

ITALIAN  the  United  States  Army,  one  of  the 
IMPRESSION  most  widely  known  western  authors 
of  that  day,  made  it  his  headquar- 
ters. Derbv  wrote  under  the  names  of  "John  Phoenix," 
and  "Squibob." 

Perini's,  in  Post  street  between  Grant  avenue  and 
Stockton,  specialized  in  pastes  and  veal  rissotto,  and 
was  much  patronized  by  uptown  men. 

The  original  Marchand  began  business  in  a  little 
room  in  Dupont  street,  between  Jackson  and  Washing- 
ton, which  district  at  that  time  had  not  been  given  over 
to  the  Chinese,  and  he  cooked  over  a  charcoal  brazier, 
in  his  window,  in  view  of  passing  people  who  were  at- 
tracted by  the  novelty  and  retained  by  the  good  cook- 
ing. With  the  extension  of  his  fame  he  found  his  room 
too  small  and  he  rented  a  cottage  at  Bush  and  Dupont 
street,  but  his  business  grew  so  rapidly  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  move  to  more  commodious  quarters  at  Post 
and  Dupont  and  later  to  a  much  larger  place  at  Geary 
and  Stockton,  where  he  enjoyed  good  patronage  until 
the  fire  destroyed  his  place.  There  is  now  a  restaurant 
in  Geary  street  near  Mason  which  has  on  its  windows 
in  very  small  letters  "Michael,  formerly  of,"  and  then  in 
bold  lettering,  "Marchands."  But  Michael  has  neither 
the  art  nor  the  viands  that  made  Marchands  famous, 
and  he  is  content  to  say  that  his  most  famous  dish  is 
tripe — just  plain,  plebeian  tripe. 

Christian  Good,  at  Washington  and  Kearny,  Big 
John,  at  Merchant  street  between  Montgomery  and  San- 
some,  Marsliall's  Chop  House,  in  the  old  Center  Market, 
and  Johnson's  Oyster  House,  in  a  basement  at  Clay  and 
Leidcsdorff  streets,  were  all  noted  places  and  much  pat- 
ronized, the  latter  laying  the  foundation  of  one  of  San 

U 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Francisco's  "First  Families."    Martin's  was  much  pat- 
ronized by  the  Old  Comstock  crowd,  and  this  was  the 
favorite    dining    place    of    the    late 
William  C.  Ralston.  EARLY 

One  of  the  most  famous  restau-        ITALIAN 
rants  of  the  early  '70s  was  the  Mint,    IMPRESSION 
in  Commercial  street,  between  Mont- 
gomery and  Kearny,  where  the  present  restaurant  of  the 
same  name  is  located.     It  was  noted  for  its  Southern 
cooking  and  was  the  favorite  resort  of  W.  W.  Foote  and 
other  prominent  Southerners.     The  kitchen  was  pre- 
sided over  by  old  Billy  Jackson,  an  old-time  Southern 
darkey,  who  made  a  specialty  of  fried  chicken,  cream 
gravy,  and  corn  fritters. 


15 


BOHEMIAN 

French  impression  came  strongly  about  this  time,  and 
the  Poodle  Dog,  of  Paris,  had  its  prototype  at  Bush  and 

Dupont  streets.    This  was  one  of  the 

BIUTll  OF  THE   earliest  of  the  type  known  as  "French 

FRENCH         Restaurants,"  and  numerous  conviv- 

RESTAURANT    ial  parties  of  men  and  women  found 

its  private  rooms  convenient  for  ren- 
dezvous. Old  Pierre  of  later  days,  who  was  found  dead 
out  on  the  Colma  road  some  two  years  after  the  fire  of 
1906,  was  a  waiter  at  the  Poodle  Dog  when  it  started, 
and  by  saving  his  tips  and  making  good  investments  he 
was  able  to  open  a  similar  restaurant  at  Stockton  and 
Market,  which  he  called  the  Pup.  The  Pup  was  famous 
for  its  frogs'  legs  a  la  poulette.  In  this  venture  Pierre 
had  a  partner,  to  whom  he  sold  out  a  few  years  later 
and  then  he  opened  the  Tortoni  in  O'Farrcll  street, 
which  became  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  pre-fire 
restaurants,  its  table  d'hote  dinners  being  considered 
the  best  in  the  city.  When  Glaus  Spreckcls  built  the 
tall  Spreckcls  building  Pierre  and  his  partner  opened 
the  Call  restaurant  in  the  top  stories.  With  the  fire 
both  of  the  restaurants  went  out  of  existence,  and  the 
old  proprietor  of  the  Poodle  Dog  having  died,  Pierre 
and  a  partner  named  Pon  bought  the  place,  and  for  a 
year  or  so  after  the  fire  it  was  one  of  the  best  French 
restaurants  in  the  city.  After  Pierre's  untimely  death 
the  restaurant  was  merged  with  Bergez  and  Frank's, 
and  is  now  in  Bush  street  above  Kearny. 

Much  romance  attached  to  Pierre,  it  being  generally 
believed  that  he  belonged  to  a  wealthy  French  family, 
because  of  his  education,  his  unfailing  courtesy,  his 
ready  wit  and  his  gentility.  Pierre  specialized  in  fish 
cooked  with  wine,  and  as  a  favor  to  his  patrons  he 
would  go  to  the  kitchen  and  prepare  the  dish  with  his 
own  hands. 

In  O'Farrcll  street  the  Dclmonico  was  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  the  French  restaurants  until  the  fire. 

16 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

It  was  several  stories  high,  and  each  story  contained 
private    rooms.      Carriages    drove    directly    into    the 
building    from    the    street    and    the 
occupants  went  by  elevator  to  sound-    BIRTH  OF  THE 
proof  rooms  above,  where  they  were         FRENCH 
served  by  discreet  waiters.  RESTAURANT 

The  Poodle  Dog,  the  Pup,  Del- 
monico's,  Jacques,  Frank's,  the  Mint,  Bergez,  Felix  and 
Campi's  are  the  connecting  links  between  the  fire  and 
the  pioneer  days.  Some  of  them  still  carry  the  names 
and  memories  of  the  old  days.  All  were  noted  for  their 
good  dinners  and  remarkably  low  prices. 

Shortly  after  the  fire  Blanco,  formerly  connected 
wdth  the  old  Poodle  Dog,  opened  a  place  in  O'Farrell 
street,  between  Hyde  and  Larkin,  calling  it  "Blanco's." 
During  the  reconstruction  period  this  was  by  far  the 
best  restaurant  in  the  city,  and  it  is  still  one  of  the 
noted  places.  Later  Blanco  opened  a  fine  restaurant 
in  Mason  street,  between  Turk  and  Eddy,  reviving  the 
old  name  of  the  Poodle  Dog,  and  here  all  the  old  tradi- 
tions have  been  revived.  Both  of  these  savor  of  the  old 
type  of  French  restaurants,  catering  to  a  class  of  quiet 
spenders  who  carefully  guard  their  indiscretions. 

In  the  early  '50s  and  '60s  the  most  noted  places  were 
not  considered  respectable  enough  for  ladies,  and  at 
restaurants  like  the  Three  Trees,  in  Dupont  just  above 
Bush  street,  ladies  went  into  little  private  rooms 
through  an  alley.  Peter  Job  saw  his  opportunity  and 
opened  a  restaurant  where  special  attention  was  paid 
to  lady  patrons,  and  shortly  after  the  New  York  restau- 
rant, in  Kearny  street,  did  the  same. 

Merging  the  post-pioneer  era  with  the  pre-fire  era 
came  the  Maison  Doree,  which  became  famous  in  many 
ways.  It  was  noted  for  oysters  a  la  poulette,  prepared 
after  the  following  recipe : 

One-half  cup  butter,  three  tablespoons  flour,  yolks  of  three 
eggs.     One  pint   chicken   stock    (or  veal),   one  tablespoonful 

17 


BOHEMIAN 

lemon   juice,  one-eighth  teaspoon   pepper,   one   level  teaspoon 
salt.      Beat   the   butter    and   flour   together    until    smooth    and 
white.     Then  add  salt,  pepper  and  lemon 
OYSTERS  juice.     Gradually   pour   boiling   stock   on 

\  l^\  this  mixture  and  simmer  for  ten  minutes. 

POri.r.TTF  Beat  the  yolks  of  eggs  in  a  saucepan,  grad- 

ually pouring  the  cooked  sauce  upon  them. 
Pour  into  a  double  boiler  containing  boiling  water  in  lower  part 
of  utensil.  Stir  the  mixture  for  one  and  one-half  minutes.  Into 
this  put  two  dozen  large  oysters  and  let  cook  until  edges  curl  up 
and  serve  hot. 

Captain  Cropper,  an  old  Marylander,  had  a  restau- 
rant that  was  much  patronized  by  good  livers,  and  in 
addition  to  the  usual  Southern  dishes  he  specialized  on 
terrapin  a  la  Maryland,  sending  back  to  his  native  State 
for  the  famous  diamond-back  terrapin.  His  recipe  for 
this  was  as  follows : 

TERRAPIN  ^"*  ^  terrapin  in  small  pieces,  about  one 
^  j^^  inch  long,  after  boiling  it.    Put  the  pieces 

MARYLAND  ^"  ^  saute  pan  with  two  ounces  of  sweet 
butter,  salt,  pepper,  a  very  little  celery 
salt,  a  pinch  of  paprika.  Simmer  for  a  few  minutes  and 
then  add  one  glass  of  sherry  wine,  which  reduce  to  half  by 
boiling.  Then  add  one  cup  of  cream,  bring  to  a  boil  and  thicken 
with  two  yolks  of  eggs  mixed  with  a  half  cup  of  cream.  Let  it 
come  to  a  near  boil  and  add  half  a  glass  of  dry  sherry  and  serve. 

You  may  thicken  the  terrapin  with  the  following  mixture: 
Two  raw  yolks  of  eggs,  two  boiled  yolks  of  eggs,  one  ounce  of 
butter,  one  ounce  corn  starch.  Rub  together  and  pass  through 
a  fine  sieve. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  Tony  Oakes,  the  Hermitage, 
and  Cornelius  Stagg's  were  noted  road-houses  where 
fine  meals  were  served,  but  these  are  scarcely  to  be  con- 
sidered as  San  Francisco  Bohemian  restaurants. 

The  Reception,  on  the  corner  of  Sutter  and  Webb 
streets,  which  continued  up  to  the  time  of  the  fire,  w\is 
noted  for  its  terrapin  specialties,  but  it  was  rather  mal- 
odorous and  ladies  who  patronized  it  usually  went  in 
through  the  We])b  street  entrance  to  keep  from  being 
seen.     The  old  Baldwin  Hotel,  which  stood  where  the 

18 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Flood  building  now  stands,  at  the  corner  of  Market  and 
Powell,  and  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  some  fourteen 
years  ago,  was  the  favorite  resort  of 
many  of  the  noted  men  of  the  West,  BIRTH  OF  THE 
and  the  grill  had  the  distinction  of       FRENCH 
being  the  best  in  San  Francisco  at  RESTAURANT 
that  time.     The  grill  of  the  Old  Pal- 
ace Hotel  was  also  of  highest  order,  and  this  was  espec- 
ially true  of  the  Ladies'  Grill  which  was  then,  as  now, 
noted  for  its  artistic  preparation  of  a  wondrous  variety 
of  good  things. 

Probably  the  most  unique  place  of  the  pioneer  and 
post-pioneer  eras  was  the  Cobweb  Palace,  at  Meiggs's 
Wharf,  run  by  queer  old  Abe  Warner.  It  was  a  little 
ramshackle  building  extending  back  through  two  or 
three  rooms  filled  with  all  manner  of  old  curios  such  as 
comes  from  sailing  vessels  that  go  to  different  parts  of 
the  world.  These  curios  were  piled  indiscriminately 
everywhere,  and  there  were  boxes  and  barrels  piled 
with  no  regard  whatever  for  regularity.  This  hetero- 
geneous conglomeration  was  covered  with  years  of  dust 
and  cobwebs,  hence  the  name.  Around  and  over  these 
played  bears,  monkeys,  parrots,  cats,  and  dogs,  and 
whatever  sort  of  bird  or  animal  that  could  be  accommo- 
dated until  it  had  the  appearance  of  a  small  menagerie. 
Warner  served  crab  in  various  ways  and  clams.  In 
the  rear  room,  which  was  reached  by  a  devious  path 
through  the  debris,  he  had  a  bar  where  he  served  the 
finest  of  imported  liquors,  French  brandy,  Spanish 
wines,  English  ale,  all  in  the  original  wood.  He  served 
no  ordinary  liquor  of  any  sort,  saying  that  if  anybody 
wanted  whiskey  they  could  get  it  at  any  saloon.  He 
catered  to  a  class  of  men  who  knew  good  liquors,  and 
his  place  was  a  great  resort  for  children,  of  whom  he 
was  fond  and  who  went  there  to  see  the  animals.  The 
frontispiece  of  this  book  is  from  one  of  the  few  existing 
(if  not  the  only  one)  photographs  of  the  place. 

19 


BOHEMIAN 

Equally  unique,  yet  of  higher  standard,  was  the 
Palace  of  Art,  run  by  the  Hackett  brothers,  in  Post 
street  near  Market.    Here  were  some 
BIRTH  OF  THE  of  the  finest  paintings  and  marble 
FRENCH         carvings  to  be  found  in  the  city,  to- 
RESTAURANT    gethcr  with  beautiful  hammered  sil- 
ver plaques  and  cups.     Curios  of  all 
sorts  were  displayed  on  the  walls,  and  among  them 
were  many  queer  wood  growths  showing  odd  shapes  as 
well  as  odd  colorings.    A  large  and  ornate  bar  extended 
along  one  side  of  the  immense  room  and  tables  were 
placed  about  the  room  and  in  a  balcony  that  ran  along 
one  side.     Here  meals  were  served  to  both  men  and 
women,  the  latter  being  attracted  by  the  artistic  display 
and  unique  character  of  the  place.    This  was  destroyed 
by  the  fire  and  all  the  works  of  art  lost. 


20 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Three  times  destroyed  by  fire,  and  tliree  times  re- 
built, the  Cliff  House  stands  on  a  rocky  promontory 
overlooking  the  Sundown  Sea,  where 
San  Francisco's  beach  is  laved  by  the  AT  THE 

waves  of  the  Ocean.     Since  the  first  CLIFF 

Cliff  House  was  erected  this  has  been  HOUSE 

a  place  famous  the  world  over  be- 
cause of  its  scenic  beauty  and  its  overlooking  the  Seal 
Rocks,  where  congregate  a  large  herd  of  sealions  dis- 
porting much  to  the  edification  of  the  visitors.  Appeal- 
ing from  its  romantic  surroundings,  interesting  because 
of  its  history,  and  attractive  through  its  combination  of 
dashing  waves  and  beautiful  beach  extending  miles  in 
one  direction,  with  the  rugged  entrance  to  Golden  Gate 
in  the  other,  with  the  mysterious  Farallones  in  the  dim 
distance,  the  Cliff  House  may  well  be  classed  as  one  of 
the  great  Bohemian  restaurants  of  San  Francisco. 

Lovers  of  the  night  life  know  it  well  for  it  is  the 
destination  of  many  an  automobile  party.  During  the 
day  its  terraces  are  filled  with  visitors  from  abroad  who 
make  this  a  part  of  their  itinerary,  and  here,  as  they 
drink  in  the  wondrous  beauty  of  the  scene  spread  be- 
fore them,  partake  of  well  prepared  and  well  served 
dishes  such  as  inade  both  the  Cliff  House  and  San  Fran- 
cisco well  and  favorably  known  and  whose  fame  is  not 
bounded  by  the  continent. 

But  for  a  most  pleasant  visit  to  the  Cliff  House  one 
should  choose  the  early  morning  hours,  and  go  out  when 
the  air  is  blowing  free  and  fresh  from  the  sea,  the  waves 
cresting  wdth  amber  under  the  magic  touch  of  the  east- 
erly sun.  Select  a  table  next  to  one  of  the  western  win- 
dows and  order  a  breakfast  that  is  served  here  better 
than  any  place  we  have  tried.  This  breakfast  will  con- 
sist of  broiled  breast  of  young  turkey,  served  with 
broiled  Virginia  ham  with  a  side  dish  of  corn  fritters. 
When  you  sit  down  to  this  after  a  brisk  ride  out  through 
Golden  Gate  Park,  you  have  the  great  sauce,  appetite, 

21 


BOHEMIAN 

and  with  a  pot  of  steaming  coffee  whose  aroma  rises 

like   the  incense   to  the   Sea   Gods,  you  will  feel  that 

while  j'^ou  have  thought  you  had  good 

AT  THE         breakfasts  before  this,  you  know  that 

CLIFF  now  you  are  having  the  best  of  them 

HOUSE         all.    Of  course  there  are  many  other 

good  things  to  order  if  you  like,  but 

we  have  discovered  nothing  that  makes  so  complete  a 

breakfast  as  this. 


3t 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

"Is  everybody  happy?    Oh,  it  is  only  nine  o'clock  and 
we've  got  all  night."    It  was  a  clear,  fresh  young  voice, 
full  of  the  joy  of  living  and  came 
from  a  young  woman  whose  care-  SOME 

free  air  seemed  to  say  of  her  exist-        ITALIAN 
ence  as  of  the  night  "We've  got  all  RESTAURANTS 
life  before  us."  The  voice,  the  health- 
ful face  and  vigorous  form,  the  very  live  and  joyous 
expression  were  all  significant  of  the  time  and  place. 
It  was  Sunday  night  and  the  place  was  Steve  Sangui- 
netti's,  with  roysterers  in  full  swing  and  every  table 
filled  and  dozens  of  patrons  waiting  along  the  walls 
ready  to  take  each  seat  as  it  was  emptied.    Here  were 
young  men  and  women  just  returned  from  their  vari- 
ous picnics  across  the  Bay  to  their  one  great  event  of 
the  week — a  Sunday  dinner  at  Sanguinetti's. 

Over  in  one  corner  of  the  stifling  room,  on  a  raised 
platform,  sat  two  oily  and  fat  negroes,  making  the  place 
hideous  with  their  ribald  songs  and  the  twanging  of  a 
guitar  and  banjo.  When  a  familiar  air  was  sounded 
the  entire  gathering  joined  in  chorus,  and  when  such 
tunes  as  "There'll  Be  a  Hot  Time  in  the  Old  Town  To- 
night" came,  the  place  was  pandemonium.  Yet  through 
it  all  perfect  order  was  kept  by  the  fat  proprietor,  his 
muscular  "bouncer"  and  two  policemen  stationed  at  the 
doors.  Noise  was  rather  invited  than  frowned  upon, 
and  the  only  line  drawn  regarding  conduct  was  the 
throwing  of  bread.  Probably  Steve  did  not  want  it 
wasted. 

It  was  all  free  and  easy  and  nobody  took  offense  at 
anything  said  or  done.  In  fact  if  one  were  squeamish 
about  such  things  Sanguinetti's  was  no  place  for  him  or 
her.  One  found  one's  self  talking  and  laughing  with  the 
people  about  as  if  they  were  old  friends.  It  made  no 
difference  how  you  were  dressed,  nor  how  dignified  you 
tried  to  be,  it  was  all  one  with  the  crowd  around  the 
tables.    If  you  wished  to  stay  there  in  comfort  you  had 

23 


BOHEMIAN 

to  be  one  of  them,  and  dignity  had  to  be  left  outside  or 

it  would  make  you  so  uncomfortable  that  you  would 

carry  it  out,  to  an  accompaniment  of 

SOME  laughter  and  jeers  of  the  rest  of  the 

ITALIAN  diners. 

RESTAURANTS  So  far  as  eating  was  concerned 

that  was  not  one  of  the  considerations 

when  discussing  Sanguinetti's.     It  was  a  table  d'hote 

dinner  served  with  a  bottle  of  "Dago  red,"  for  fifty 

cents.     You  gave  the  waiter  a  tip  of  fifteen  cents  or 

"two  bits"  as  you  felt  liberal,  and  he  was  satisfied.    If 

you  were  especially  pleased  you  gave  the  darkeys  ten 

cents,   not  because   you   enjoyed   the   music,   but  just 

"because." 

The  one  merit  of  Sanguinetti's  before  the  fire  was 
the  fact  that  all  the  regular  customers  were  unaffected 
and  natural.  They  came  from  the  factories,  canneries, 
shops,  and  drays,  and  after  a  week  of  heart-breaking 
work  this  was  their  one  relaxation  and  they  enjoyed  it 
to  the  full.  Many  people  from  the  residential  part  of 
the  city,  and  many  visitors  at  the  hotels,  went  there  as 
a  part  of  slumming  trips,  but  the  real  sentiment  was  ex- 
pressed by  the  young  girl  when  she  sang  out  "Is  every- 
body happy?" 

Sanguinetti  still  has  his  restaurant,  and  there  is  still 
to  be  found  the  perspiring  darkeys,  playing  and  singing 
their  impossible  music,  and  a  crowd  still  congregates 
there,  but  it  is  not  the  old  crowd  for  this,  like  all  tilings 
else  in  San  Francisco,  has  changed,  and  instead  of  the 
old-time  assemblage  of  j'oung  men  and  women  whose 
lack  of  convention  came  from  their  natural  environ- 
ment, there  is  now  a  crowd  of  young  and  old  peo- 
ple who  patronize  it  because  they  have  heard  it  is  "so 
Bohemian." 

Thrifty  hotel  guides  take  tourists  there  and  tell  them 
it  is  "the  only  real  Bohemian  restaurant  in  San  Fran- 
cisco," and  when  the  outlantlers  see  the  antics  of  the 

24 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

people  and  listen  to  the  ribald  jests  and  bad  music  of 
the  darkej'^s,  they  go  back  to  their  hotels  and  tell  with 
bated  breath  of  one  of  the  most  won- 
derful  things   they   have   ever   seen,  SOME 
and  it  is  one  of  the  wonderful  things          ITALIAN 
of  their  limited  experience.                     RESTAURANTS 

Among  the  pre-fire  restaurants  of 
note  were  several  Italian  places  which  appealed  to  the 
Rohemian  spirit  through  their  good  cooking  and  ab- 
sence of  conventionality,  together  with  the  inexpensive- 
ness  of  the  dinners.  Among  these  were  the  Ruon  Gusto, 
the  Fior  d'ltalia.  La  Estrella,  Campi's  and  the  Gianduja. 
Of  these  Campi's,  in  Clay  street  below  Sansome,  was  the 
most  noted,  and  the  primitive  style  of  serving  combined 
with  his  excellent  cooking  brought  him  fame.  All  of 
these  places,  or  at  least  restaurants  with  these  names, 
are  still  in  existence. 

Jule's,  the  Fly  Trap,  the  St.  Germain  and  the  Cosmos 
laid  claim  to  distinction  through  their  inexpensiveness, 
up  to  the  time  of  the  fire.  All  of  these  names  are  still 
to  be  seen  over  restaurants  and  they  are  still  in  that 
class,  Jule's,  possibly,  being  better  than  it  was  before 
the  fire.  A  good  dinner  of  seven  or  eight  courses,  well 
cooked  and  well  served,  could  be  had  in  these  places  for 
fifty  cents.  Lombardi's  was  of  the  same  type  but  his 
price  was  but  twenty-five  cents  for  a  course  dinner  in 
many  respects  the  equal  of  the  others. 

Pop  Floyd,  recently  killed  by  his  bartender  in  an 
altercation,  had  a  place  down  in  California  street  much 
patronized  by  business  men.  He  had  very  good  service 
and  the  best  of  cooking,  and  for  many  years  hundreds 
of  business  men  gathered  there  at  luncheon  in  lieu  of  a 
club.  The  place  is  still  in  existence  and  good  service 
and  good  food  is  to  be  had  there,  but  it  has  lost  its  Ro- 
hemian atmosphere. 

In  Pine  street  above  Montgomery  was  the  Viticul- 
tural,  a  restaurant  that  had  great  vogue  owing  to  the 

25 


BOHEMIAN 

excellence  of  its  cooking.    Its  specialty  was  marrow  on 
toast  and  broiled  mushrooms,  and  game. 

To  speak  of  Bohemian  San  Fran- 
bUMh  Cisco  and  say  nothing  of  the  old  Hoflf- 

ITALIAN  man  saloon,  on  Second  and  Market 
RESTAURANTS  streets,  would  be  like  the  play  of 
Hamlet  with  Hamlet  left  out.  "Pop" 
Sullivan,  or  "Billy"  Sullivan,  according  to  the  degree  of 
familiarity  of  the  acquaintance,  boasted  of  the  fact  that 
from  the  day  this  place  opened  until  he  sold  the  doors 
were  closed  but  once,  the  keys  having  been  thrown 
away  on  opening  day.  During  all  the  years  of  its  exist- 
ence the  only  day  it  was  closed  was  the  day  of  the 
funeral  of  Sullivan's  mother.  Here  was  the  most  mag- 
nificent bar  in  San  Francisco,  and  in  connection  was  a 
restaurant  that  catered  to  people  who  not  only  knew 
good  things  but  ordered  them.  The  back  part  of  the 
place  with  entrance  on  Second  street  was  divided  off 
into  little  rooms  with  tables  large  enough  for  four. 
These  rooms  were  most  lavish  in  their  decoration,  the 
most  interesting  feature  being  that  they  were  all  made 
of  different  beautiful  woods,  highly  polished.  Woods 
were  here  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  each  being  dis- 
tinctive. In  these  rooms  guests  were  served  with  the 
best  the  market  afforded,  by  discreet  darkeys.  This 
place  was  the  best  patronized  of  all  the  Bohemian  re- 
sorts of  the  city  up  to  the  time  of  the  fire.  One  of  the 
special  dainties  served  were  the  Hoffman  House  biscuits, 
light  and  flaky,  such  as  could  be  found  nowhere  else. 

Out  by  Marshall  Square,  by  the  City  Hall,  was  Good 
Fellow's  Grotto,  started  by  Techau,  who  afterward  built 
and  ran  the  Techau  Tavern.  This  place  was  in  a  base- 
ment and  had  much  vogue  among  politicians  and  those 
connected  with  the  city  government.  It  specialized  on 
beefsteaks. 

Under  the  St.  Ann  building,  at  Eddy  and  Powell 
streets,  was  the  Louvre,  started  and  managed  by  Carl 

26 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Zinkand,  who  afterward  opened  the  place  in  Market 
above  Fourth  street,  called  Zinkand's.    This  was  dis- 
tinctly German  in  appointments  and 
cooking  and  was  the  best  of  its  kind  SOME 

in  the  city.    Under  the  Phelan  build-        ITALIAN 
ing  at  O'Farrell  and  Market  was  the  RESTAURANTS 
Old  Louvre  in  which  place  one  could 
get  German  cooking,  but  it  was  not  a  place  that  ap- 
pealed to  those  who  knew  good  service. 

Bab's  had  a  meteoric  career  and  was  worthy  of 
much  longer  life,  but  Babcock  had  too  high  an  idealiza- 
tion of  what  San  Francisco  wanted.  He  emulated  the 
Parisian  restaurants  in  oddities,  one  of  his  rooms  being 
patterned  after  the  famous  Cabaret  de  la  Mort,  and  one 
dined  off  a  coffin  and  was  lighted  by  green  colored 
tapers  affixed  to  skulls.  Aside  from  its  oddities  it  was 
one  of  the  best  places  for  a  good  meal  for  Bab  had  the 
art  of  catering  down  to  a  nicety.  There  were  rooms 
decorated  to  represent  various  countries  and  in  each 
room  you  could  get  a  dinner  of  the  country  represented. 

Thompson's  was  another  place  that  was  too  elab- 
orate for  its  patronage  and  after  a  varied  existence  from 
the  old  Oyster  Loaf  to  a  cafeteria  Thompson  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  for  other  fields  and  San  Francisco  lost  a 
splendid  restaurateur.  He  opened  the  place  under  the 
Flood  building,  after  the  fire,  in  most  magnificent  style, 
taking  in  two  partners.  The  enormous  expense  and 
necessary  debt  contracted  to  open  the  place  was  too 
much  and  Thompson  had  to  give  up  his  interest.  This 
place  is  now  running  as  the  Portola-Louvre. 

Much  could  be  written  of  these  old-time  restaurants, 
and  as  we  write  story  after  story  amusing,  interesting, 
and  instructive  come  to  mind,  each  indicative  of  the 
period  when  true  Bohemianism,  was  to  be  found  in  the 
City  that  Was. 

An  incident  that  occurred  in  the  old  Fior  d'ltalia 
well  illustrates  this  spirit  of  camaraderie,  as  it  shows 

27 


BOHEMIAN 

the  good-fellowship  that  then  obtained.     We  went  to 
that  restaurant  for  dinner  one  evening,  and  the  propri- 
etor, knowing  our  interest  in  human 
SOME  nature  studies,  showed  us  to  a  little 

ITALIAN  table  in  the  back  part  of  the  room, 

RESTAURANTS  where  we  could  have  a  good  view  of 
all  the  tables.  Our  table  was  large 
enough  to  scat  four  comfortably,  and  presently,  as  the 
room  became  crowded,  the  proprietor,  with  many  ex- 
cuses, asked  if  he  could  seat  tw^o  gentlemen  with  us. 
They  were  upper  class  Italians,  exceedingly  polite,  and 
apologized  profusely  for  intruding  upon  us.  In  a  few 
minutes  another  gentleman  entered  and  our  compan- 
ions at  once  began  frantic  gesticulations  and  called  him 
to  our  table,  where  room  was  made  and  another  cover 
laid.  Again  and  again  this  occurred  until  finally  at  a 
table  suited  for  four,  nine  of  us  were  eating,  laughing, 
and  talking  together,  we  being  taken  into  the  comrade- 
ship without  question.  When  it  came  time  for  us  to 
depart  the  entire  seven  rose  and  stood,  bowing  as  we 
passed  from  the  restaurant. 


28 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Running  through  all  the  fabric  of  San  Francisco's 
history  is  the  thread  of  Mexican  and  Spanish  romance 
and  tradition,  carrying  us  back  to  the 
very  days  when  the  trooper  sent  out  IMPRESS 

by  Portola  first  set  eyes  on  the  great  OF 

inland  sea  now  known  as  San  Fran-  MEXICO 

Cisco  Bay.  It  would  seem  that  the 
cuisinaire  most  indelibly  stamped  on  the  taste  of  the  old 
San  Franciscan  would,  therefore,  be  of  either  Spanish 
or  Mexican  origin.  That  this  is  not  a  fact  is  because 
among  the  earliest  comers  to  California  after  it  passed 
from  Mexican  hands  to  those  of  the  United  States,  were 
French  and  Italian  cooks,  and  the  bon  vivants  of  both 
lands  who  wanted  their  own  style  of  cooking.  While 
the  Spanish  did  not  impress  their  cooking  on  San  Fran- 
cisco, it  is  the  cuisine  of  the  Latin  races  that  has  given 
to  it  its  greatest  gastronomic  prestige,  and  there  still  re- 
mains from  those  very  early  days  recipes  of  the  famous 
dishes  which  had  their  beginnings  either  in  Spain  or 
Mexico. 

There  is  much  misconception  regarding  both  Span- 
ish and  Mexican  cooking,  for  it  is  generally  accepted  as 
a  fact  that  all  Mexican  and  Spanish  dishes  are  so  filled 
with  red  pepper  as  to  be  unpalatable  to  the  normal 
stomach  of  those  trained  to  what  is  called  "plain  Ameri- 
can cooking."  Certain  dishes  of  Mexican  and  Spanish 
origin  owe  their  fine  flavor  to  discriminating  use  of  chili 
caliente  or  chili  dulce,  but  many  of  the  best  dishes  are 
entirely  innocent  of  either.  The  difference  between 
Spanish  and  Mexican  cooking  is  largely  a  matter  of 
sentiment.  It  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Spaniard  that  he 
does  not  wish  to  be  classed  as  a  Mexican,  and  on  the 
other  hand  the  Mexican  is  angry  if  he  be  called  a  Span- 
iard. But  the  fact  remains  that  their  cooking  is  much 
alike,  so  much  so,  in  fact,  as  to  be  indistinguishable  ex- 
cept by  different  names  for  similar  dishes,  and  fre- 
quently these  are  the  same. 

29 


BOHEMIAN 

The  two  famous  and  world-known  dishes  of  this 

class  of  cooking  are  tortillas  and  tamales.  It  is  generally 

supposed  that  both  of  these  are  the 

IMPRESS       product  of  Mexico,  but  this  is  not  the 

OF  case.     The  tamale  had  its  origin  in 

MEXICO         Spain  and  was  carried  to  Mexico  by 

the  conquistadors,  and  taken  up  as 

a  national  dish  by  the  natives  after  many  years.     The 

tortilla,  on  the  other  hand,  is  made  now  exactly  as  it 

was  made  by  the  Mexican  Indian  when  the  Spanish 

found  the  country.    The  aborigine  prepared  his  corn  on 

a  stone  metate  and  made  it  into  cakes  by  patting  it  with 

the  hand,  then  cooked  it  on  a  hot  stone  before  an  open 

fire.     It  is  still  made  in  that  manner  in  the  heart  of 

Mexico,  and  we  could  tell  a  story  of  how  we  saw  this 

done  one  night  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  tropical  forest, 

while   muleteers   and   mozas   of   a   great   caravan   sat 

around  their  little  camp-fires,  whose  fitful  light  served 

to  intensify  the  weird  appearance  of  the  shadows  of  the 

Indians  as  they  passed  to  and  fro  among  their  packs, 

but  this  is  not  the  place  for  such  stories. 

Of  the  old  Mexican  restaurants,  those  of  us  who  can 
look  back  to  the  days  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  re- 
member old  Felipe  and  Maria,  the  Mexican  couple  who 
kept  the  little  place  in  the  alley  back  of  the  old  county 
jail,  off  Broadway.  Here  one  had  to  depend  entirely 
upon  sentiment,  or  rather  sentimentality,  to  be  pleased. 
The  cooking  was  truly  Mexican  for  it  included  the  usual 
Mexican  disregard  for  dirt.  Chattering  monkeys  and 
parrots  were  hanging  around  the  kitchen,  peering  into 
pots  and  fingering  viands,  and  they  served  to  attract  at- 
tention from  myriads  of  cockroaches  that  swarmed 
about  the  walls.  One  could  go  to  this  place  just  on  the 
theory  that  one  is  willing  to  try  anything  once,  but  aside 
from  its  picturesque  old  couple,  and  its  Dantesque  ap- 
pearance, it  offered  nothing  to  induce  a  return  unless  it 
was  to  entertain  a  friend. 

30 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Everyone  who  lived  in  San  Francisco  before  the  fire 
remembers  Ricardo,  he  of  the  one  eye,  who  served  so 
well  at  Luna's,  on  Vallejo  and  Du- 
pont  streets.     Ricardo  had  but  one         IMPRESS 
eye  but  he  could  see  the  wants  of  his  OF 

patrons  much  better  than  many  of  MEXICO 
the  later  day  waiters  who  have  two. 
Luna's  brought  fame  to  San  Francisco  and  in  more  than 
one  novel  of  San  Francisco  life  it  was  featured.  Enter- 
ing the  place  one  came  into  the  home  life  of  the  Luna 
family,  and  reached  the  dining  room  through  the  par- 
lor, where  Mrs.  Luna,  busy  with  her  drawn  work,  and 
all  the  little  Lunas  and  the  neighbors  and  their  children 
foregathered  in  the  window  spaces  behind  the  torn  Not- 
tingham curtains  which  partially  concealed  the  interior 
from  passers  on  the  street.  The  elder  sons  and  daugh- 
ters attended  to  the  wants  of  those  who  fancied  any  of 
the  curios  displayed  in  the  long  showcase  that  extended 
from  the  door  to  the  rear  of  the  room. 

Passing  through  this  family  group  one  came  to  the 
curtained  dining  room  proper,  although  there  were  a 
number  of  tables  in  the  family  parlor  to  be  used  in  case 
of  a  rush  of  patrons.  Luna's  dinners  were  a  feature  of 
the  old  San  Francisco.  They  were  strictly  Mexican, 
from  the  unpalatable  soup  (Mexicans  do  not  under- 
stand how  to  make  good  soup)  to  the  "dulce"  served  at 
the  close  of  the  meal.  First  came  the  appetizers  in  form 
of  thin  slices  of  salami  and  of  a  peculiar  Mexican 
sausage,  so  extremely  hot  with  chili  pepino  as  to  imme- 
diately call  for  a  drink  of  claret  to  assauge  the  burning. 
Then  came  the  soup  which  we  experienced  ones  always 
passed  over.  The  salad  of  modern  tables  was  replaced 
by  an  enchilada,  and  then  came  either  chili  con  carne 
or  chili  con  polle  according  to  the  day  of  the  week, 
Sundays  having  as  the  extra  attraction  the  chili  con 
polio,  or  chicken  with  pepper.  In  place  of  bread  they 
served  tortillas,  which  were  rolled  and  used  as  a  spoon 

31 


BOHEMIAN 

or  fork  if  one  were  so  inclined.     Following  this  w^as 
what  is  known  among  unenlightened  as  "stuffed  pep- 
per," but  which  is  called  by  the  Span- 
IMPRESS         ish,  from  which  country  it  gets  its 
OF  name,  "chili  reinas."    To  signify  the 

MEXICO  close  of  the  meal  came  frijoles  fritas 

or  fried  beans,  and  these  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  dessert  consisting  of  some  preserved  fruit 
or  of  a  sweet  tamale.  Fifty  cents  paid  the  bill  and  a  tip 
of  fifteen  cents  to  Ricardo  made  him  as  happy  and  as 
profuse  with  his  thanks  as  the  present  day  waiter  on 
receipt  of  half  a  dollar. 

Accepting  Luna's  as  the  best  type  of  the  Mexican 
restaurant  of  the  days  before  the  fire,  our  inquiry  devel- 
oped the  fact  that  the  dish  on  which  he  specialized  was 
chili  reinas,  and  this  is  the  recipe  he  used  in  their 
preparation: 

CHILIS  Roast  large  bell  peppers  until  the  skin 

REINAS          turns  black.    Wash  in  cold  water  and  rub 

off  the  blackened  skin.     Cut  around  the 

stem  and  remove  the  seed  and  coarse  veins.     Take  some  dry 

Monterey  cheese,  grated  fine,  and  with  this  fill  the  peppers, 

closing  the  end  with  a  wooden  toothpick. 

Prepare  a  batter  made  as  follows:  Beat  the  yolks  and 
whites  of  six  eggs  separately,  then  mix,  and  stir  in  a  little 
flour  to  make  a  thin  batter.  Have  a  pan  of  boiling  lard  ready 
and  after  dipping  tlie  stuffed  pepper  into  the  batter  dip  it  into 
the  lard.  Remove  cjuickly  and  dip  again  in  the  batter  and  then 
again  in  the  lard  where  it  is  to  remain  until  fried  a  light, 
golden  brown,  keeping  the  peppers  entirely  covered  with  the 
boiling  lard. 

Take  the  seeds  of  the  peppers,  one  small  white  onion  and 
two  tomatoes  and  grind  all  together  into  a  pulp,  add  a  little 
salt  and  let  cook  ten  minutes.  When  the  chilis  are  fried  turn 
the  remainder  of  the  batter  into  the  tomatoes  and  boil  twenty 
minutes,  then  turn  this  sauce  over  the  peppers. 

This  is  a  most  delicious  dish  and  can  be  varied  by  using 
finely  ground  meat  to  stuff  the  peppers  instead  of  the  cheese. 

Mexican  restaurants  of  the  present  day  in  San  Fran- 
cisco are  a  delusion,  and  unsatisfactory. 

32 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Much  has  been  said  and  more  printed  regarding  San 
Francisco's  Barbary  Coast — much  of  truth  and  much 
mythical.     Probably  no   other  indi- 
vidual  district   has   been   so   instru-  qN  THE 
mental  in  giving  to  people  of  other          BARBARY 
parts   of   the   country   an   erroneous  COAST 
idea  of  San  Francisco.    It  is  generally 
accepted  as  a  fact  that  in  Barbary  Coast  Vice  flaunted 
itself  in  reckless  abandon  before  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
showing  those  things  usually  concealed  behind  walls 
and  under  cover  of  the  darkness.     According  to  the 
purists  here  youth  of  both  sexes  was  debauched,  losing 
both  money  and  souls.     To  speak  of  seeing  Barbary 
Coast  brought  furtive  looks  and  lowered  voices,  as  if 
contamination  even  from  the  thought  were  possible.  No 
slumming  party  was  completed  without  a  visit  to  the 
"Coast,"  after  Chinatown's  manufactured  horrors  had 
been  shuddered  at. 

One  cannot  well  speak  of  the  Barbary  Coast  without 
bringing  into  consideration  the  Social  Evil,  for  here  was 
concentrated  dozens  of  the  poor  unfortunates  of  the 
underworld,  compelled  to  eke  out  miserable  existence 
through  playing  on  the  foibles  and  vanities  of  men,  or 
seek  oblivion  in  a  suicide's  grave.  We  do  not  propose 
to  discuss  this  phase  of  Barbary  Coast  as  that  is  not  a 
part  of  Bohemianism. 

We  have  visited  the  Coast  many  times,  at  all  hours 
of  the  night,  and  beyond  the  unconcealed  license  of 
open  caresses  we  have  seen  nothing  shocking  to  our 
moral  sense  that  equalled  what  we  have  seen  in  Broad- 
way, New  York,  or  in  some  of  the  most  fashionable 
hotels  and  restaurants  of  San  Francisco  on  New  Year's 
Eve.  Dancing,  singing  and  music — all  that  is  embodied 
in  the  "wine,  women  and  song"  of  the  poets,  was  to  be 
found  there,  biit  it  was  open,  and  had  none  of  the  veiled 
suggestion  to  be  found  in  places  considered  among  the 
best. 

33 


BOHEMIAN 

In  Barbary  Coast  we  have  seen  more  beautiful  danc- 
ing than  on  any  stage,  or  in  the  famous  Moulin  Rouge, 
or  Jardin  Mabile  of  Paris.  In  fact, 
OX  THE        many  of  the  modern  dances  that  have 

BARBARY  become  the  vogue  all  over  the  coun- 
COAST  try,   even   being   carried    to  Europe, 

had  their  origin  in  Pacific  street 
dance  halls.  Texas  Tommy,  the  Grizzly  Bear,  and  many 
others  were  first  danced  here,  and  some  of  the  finest 
Texas  Tommy  dancers  on  eastern  stages  went  from  the 
dance  halls  of  San  Francisco's  Barbary  Coast. 

Vice  was  there — yes.  It  was  open — yes.  But  there 
was  the  attraction  of  light  and  life  and  laughter  that 
drew  crowds  nightly. 

Barbary  Coast  was  a  part  of  San  Francisco's  Bo- 
hemianism  because  of  its  unconventionality,  for,  you 
know,  there  is  conventionality  even  in  Vice.  Here  was 
the  rendezvous  of  sailormen  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 
for  here  they  found  companionship  and  joviality. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  closing  of  Barbary  Coast  mo- 
lestation of  women  on  the  streets  of  San  Francisco  was 
almost  unheard  of.  Since  its  closing  it  is  becoming  more 
and  more  hazardous  for  women  to  walk  alone  at  night 
in  the  only  large  city  in  the  world  that  always  had  the 
reputation  of  guarding  its  womankind. 


54 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Times  change  and  we  change  with  them  is  well  evi- 
denced by  the  restaurant  life  of  the  present  day  San 
Francisco.  Now,  as  before  the  fire,  we 
have  the  greatest  restaurant  city  of         IrltLLllY 
the  world — a  city  where  home  life  is        IHAl  WAS 
subordinated  to   the  convenience  of  FASSbS 

apartment    dwelling   and   restaurant 
meals — but  the  old-time  Bohemian  finds  neither  the 
same  atmosphere  nor  the  same  restaurants. 

True,  many  of  the  old  names  have  been  retained  or 
revived,  but  there  is  not  felt  the  old  spirit  of  camarad- 
erie. Old  personalities  have  passed  away  and  old  cus- 
toms have  degenerated.  Those  who  aw^ait  The  Gall 
feel  that  with  the  passing  of  the  old  city  there  passed 
much  that  made  life  worth  living,  and  as  they  prepare 
to  cross  to  the  Great  Beyond,  they  live  in  their  mem- 
ories of  the  Past. 

With  reverence  we  think  of  the  men  and  women  of 
the  early  San  Francisco— those  who  made  the  city  the 
Home  of  Bohemia — and  it  is  with  this  feeling  that  we 
now  come  to  discuss  the  Bohemian  restaurants  of  the 
New  San  Francisco. 


35 


BOHEMIAN 

In  the  latter  part  of  April,  1906,  when  the  fire-swept 

sb'cets   presented   their   most   forbidding   aspect,    and 

when  the  only  moving  figures  to  be 

SANG  seen  after  nightfall  were  armed  sol- 

THE  SWAN  diers  guarding  the  little  remaining  of 
SONG  value  from  depredations  of  skulking 

vagabonds,  a  number  of  the  old  Bo- 
hemian spirits  gathered  at  the  corner  of  Montgomery 
and  Commercial  streets,  and  gazed  through  the  shat- 
tered windows  into  the  old  dining  room  where  they  had 
held  many  a  royal  feast.  On  the  blackened  walls  might 
still  be  seen  scarred  pictures,  fringed  by  a  row  of  black 
cats  along  the  ceiling.  They  turned  their  steps  out  to- 
ward the  Presidio,  hunted  among  the  Italian  refugees 
and  there  found  Coppa — he  of  the  wonderful  black  cats, 
and  it  took  little  persuasion  to  induce  him  to  go  back 
to  his  ruined  restaurant  and  prepare  a  dinner,  such  as 
had  made  his  place  famous  among  artists,  writers,  and 
other  Bohemians,  in  the  days  when  San  Francisco  was 
care-free  and  held  her  arms  wide  open  in  welcome  to 
all  the  world. 

It  was  such  a  dinner  as  has  been  accorded  to  few. 
Few  there  are  who  have  the  heart  to  make  merry  amid 
crumbling  ruins  of  all  they  held  dear  in  the  material 
world.  The  favored  ones  who  assembled  there  will  al- 
ways hold  that  dinner  in  most  alTcclionate  memory,  and 
to  this  day  not  one  thinks  of  it  without  the  choking  that 
comes  from  over-full  emotion.  It  was  more  than  a 
tribute  to  the  days  of  old — it  marked  the  passing  of  the 
old  San  Francisco  and  the  inauguration  of  the  new. 

It  was  Bohemia's  Swan  Song,  sung  by  those  to  whom 
San  Francisco  held  more  than  pleasure — more  than  sen- 
timentality. It  held  for  them  close-knit  ties  that  noth- 
ing less  than  a  world-shaking  cataclysm  could  sever — 
and  the  cataclysm  had  arrived. 

The  old  Coppa  restaurant  in  Montgomery  street  be- 
came a  memory  and  on  its  ashes  came  the  new  one, 

36 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

located  in  Pine  street  between  Montgomery  and  Kearny 
streets,  and  for  a  number  of  j^ears  this  remained  the 
idol  of  Bohemia  until  changed  condi- 
tions drove  the  tide  of  patronage  far  SANG 
up  toward  Powell,  Ellis,  Eddy  and     THE  SWAN 
O'Farrell  streets.    At  that  time  there           SONG 
grew   up   a    mushroom   crop   of   so- 
called  restaurants  in  Columbus  avenue  close  to  Barbary 
Coast  such  as  Caesar's,  the  Follies  Cabaret,  Jupiter  and 
El  Paradiso,  where  space  was  reserved  in  the  middle  of 
the  floor  for  dancing.    Coppa  emulated  the  new  idea  by 
fitting  out  a  gorgeous  basement  room  at  the  corner  of 
Kearny  and  Jackson,  which  he  called  the  Neptune  Pal- 
ace.   It  represented  a  great  grotto  under  the  ocean,  and 
here  throngs  gathered  nightly  to  dance  and  eat  until  the 
police  commissioners  closed  all  of  these  resorts,  as  well 
as  Barbary  Coast. 

Coppa  became  financially  injured  by  this  venture 
and  was  forced  to  take  a  partner  in  his  old  restaurant, 
and  finally  gave  up  his  share  and  went  beyond  the  city 
limits  and  opened  the  Pompeiian  Garden,  on  the  San 
Mateo  road,  and  there  with  his  heroic  little  wife  tried  to 
rebuild  his  shrunken  fortunes,  leaving  the  historic  res- 
taurant with  its  string  of  black  cats  and  its  memorable 
pictures  on  the  walls  to  less  skilled  hands.  He  strug- 
gled against  hard  times  and  at  the  time  of  this  writing 
he,  with  his  wife,  their  son  and  his  wife,  are  giving  the 
old-time  dinners  and  trying  to  make  the  venture  a 
success. 

In  the  old  days  it  was  considered  a  feat  of  gorman- 
dizing to  go  through  one  of  Coppa's  dinners  and  eat 
everything  set  before  you  for  one  dollar.  Notwith- 
standing the  delicious  dishes  he  prepared  and  the  won- 
derful recipes,  the  quantity  served  was  so  great  that  one 
would  have  to  be  possessed  of  enormous  capacity,  in- 
deed, to  be  able  to  say  at  the  end  of  the  meal  that  he 
had  eaten  all  that  was  given  him. 

57 


BOHEMIAN 

In  his  Pompeiian  Garden  Coppa  still  maintains  his 
old  reputation  for  most  tasty  viands  and  liberal  por- 
tions, and  if  one  desire  to  find  the 
SANG  true    Bohemian    restaurant    of    San 

THE  SWAN        Francisco  today,  one  that  approaches 
SONG  the  old  spirit  of  the  days  before  the 

fire,  he  need  but  go  out  to  Coppa's 
and  while  he  will  not  have  his  eyes  regaled  by  the 
quaint  drawings  with  which  the  old-time  artists  decor- 
ated the  walls,  nor  the  hurrying  footsteps  along  the 
ceiling  to  the  famous  center  table  where  sat  some  of  the 
world's  most  notable  Bohemians  on  their  visits  to  San 
Francisco,  nor  the  frieze  of  black  cats  around  the  cor- 
nice, nor  the  Bohemian  verse,  written  under  inspiration 
of  "Dago  red,"  he  will  find  the  same  old  cooking,  done 
by  Coppa  himself. 

We  asked  Coppa  what  he  considered  his  best  dish 
and  he  gave  us  the  Irishman's  reply  by  asking  another 
question: 

"What  do  you  think  of  it?" 
There  are  so  many  to  choose  from  that  our  answer 
was  difiicult  but  we  finally  stopped  at  "Chicken  Por- 
tola."     It  was  then  that  the  old  smile  came  back  to 
Coppa's  face. 

"Ah!    Chicken  Portola.    That  is  my  own  idea.    It  is 
the  most  delicious  way  chicken  was  ever  cooked." 

This  is  the  recipe  as  Coppa  gave  it  to  us,  his  little 
wife  standing  at  his  side  and  giving,  now  and  then,  a 
suggestion  as  Coppa's  memory  halted : 

/MjuM/rv  Take    a    fresh    cocoanut    and    cut    off   the 

POHTOI  A  '''  •'t'"i"^''"fi  nearly  all  of  the  meat.    Put 

\I  \('()PP\  together  three  tablespoonfuls  of  chopped 
cocoanut  meat  and  two  ears  of  fresh,  green 
corn, taken  from  the  cob.  Slice  two  onions  into  four  tablespoon- 
fuls of  olive  oil,  together  with  a  tablespoonful  of  diced  bacon 
fried  in  olive  oil,  add  one  chopped  green  pepper,  half  a  dozen 
toniat(K's  stewed  with  salt  and  pepper,  one  clove  of  garlic,  and 
cook  all  together  until  it  thickens.   Strain  this  into  the  corn  and 

38 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

cocoanut  and  add  one  spring  chicken  cut  in  four  pieces.     Put 

the  mixture  into  the  shell  of  the  cocoanut,  using  the  cut-otf 
top  as  a  cover,  and  close  tightly  with  a 

covering  of  paste  around  the  jointure  to  QAXTr" 

keep  in  the  flavors.    Put  the  cocoanut  into  oAISLt 
a  pan  with  water  in  it  and  set  in  the  oven,      THE  SWAN 

well    heated,    for   one    hour,   basting   fre-  SONG 
quently  to  prevent  the  cocoanut's  burning. 

A  bare  recital  of  the  terms  of  the  recipe  cannot  bring 
to  the  uninitiated  even  a  suspicion  of  the  delightful 
aroma  that  comes  from  the  cocoanut  when  its  top  is 
lifted,  nor  can  it  give  the  slightest  idea  of  the  delicacy 
of  the  savor  arising  from  the  combination  of  the  cocoa- 
nut  with  young  chicken.  It  is  not  a  difficult  dish  to  pre- 
pare, and  if  you  cannot  get  it  at  any  of  the  restaurants, 
and  we  are  sure  you  cannot,  try  it  at  home  some  time 
and  surprise  your  friends  with  a  dish  to  be  found  in 
only  one  restaurant  in  the  world.  If  you  desire  it  at 
Coppa's  on  your  visit  to  San  Francisco  you  will  have  to 
telephone  out  to  him  in  advance  (unless  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  back  to  the  city,  which  he  contem- 
plates) so  that  he  can  prepare  it  for  j^ou,  and,  take  our 
word  for  it,  you  will  never  regret  doing  so. 

Coppa  has  many  wonderful  dishes  to  serve,  and  he 
delights  so  much  in  your  appreciation  that  he  is  always 
fearful  something  is  wrong  if  you  fail  to  do  full  justice 
to  his  meal.  He  showed  this  one  evening  when  he  had 
filled  a  little  party  of  us  to  repletion  by  his  lavish 
provision  for  our  entertainment,  and  nature  rebelled 
against  anything  more.    To  us  came  Coppa  in  tears. 

"What  is  the  matter  with  the  chicken.  Doctor?    Is  it 
not  cooked  just  right?" 

It  was  with  difficulty  that  we  made  him  understand 
that  there  was  a  limit  to  capacity,  and  that  he  had  fed  us 
with  such  bountiful  hand  we  could  eat  no  more.  Even 
now  when  we  go  to  Coppa's  we  have  a  little  feeling  of 
fear  lest  we  offend  him  by  not  eating  enough  to  con- 
vince him  that  we  are  pleased. 

39 


BOHEMIAN 

Coppa's  walls  were  always  adorned  with  strange 
conceits  of  the  artists  and  writers  who  frequented  his 
place,  and  after  a  picture,  or  a  bit  of 
SANG  verse  had  remained  until  it  was  too 

THE  SWAN  familiar  some  one  erased  it  and  re- 

SOXG  placed  it  wdth  something  he  thought 

was  better.    We  preserved  one  writ- 
ten by  an  unknown  Bohemian.  We  give  it  just  as  it  was : 

Through  the  fog  of  centuries,  dim  and  dense, 

I  sometimes  seem  to  see 

The  shadowy  line  of  a  back-yard  fence 

And  a  feline  shape  of  me. 

I  hear  the  growl,  and  yowl  and  howl 

Of  each  nocturnal  fight, 

And  the  throaty  stir,  half  cry,  half  purr 

Of  passionate  delight, 

As  seeking  an  amorous  rendezvous 

My  ancient  brothers  go  stealing 

Through  the  purple  gloom  of  night. 

I've  seen  your  eyes,  with  a  greenish  glint; 

You  move  with  a  feline  grace; 

And  when  you  are  pleased  I  catch  the  hint 

Of  a  purr  in  your  throat  and  face. 

Then  I  wonder  if  you  are  dreaming,  too, 

Of  temples  along  the  Nile, 

Where  you  yowled  and  howled,  and  loved  and  prowled, 

\Vith  many  a  sensuous  wile. 

And  borrowed  the  grace  you  own  today 

From  that  other  life  in  the  far-away; 

And  if  such  dreams  beguile. 

I  know  that  you  sit  by  your  cozy  fire, 

When  shadows  crowd  the  room. 

And  my  soul  responds  to  an  old  desire 

To  roam  through  the  velvet}'  gloom, 

So  stealthily  stealing,  softly  shod. 

My  spirit  is  hurrying  thence 

To  the  lure  of  an  ancient  mystic  god, 

W^hose  magnet  is  intense. 

Where  I  know  your  soul,  too,  roams  in  fur. 

For  I  hear  it  call  witli  a  throaty  purr, 

From  the  shadowy  back-yard  fence. 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

San   Francisco's   care-free  spirit  was  fully   exem- 
plified before  the  ashes  of  the  great  fire  of  1906  were 
cold.    On  every  hand  one  could  find 
little  eating  places  established  in  the       BOHEMIA 
streets,    some    made    of    abandoned         OF  THE 
boxes,    others    of    debris    from    the       PIU^SENT 
burned  buildings,  and  some  in  vacant 
basements  and  little  store  rooms,  while  a  few  enterpris- 
ing individuals  improvised  wheeled  dining  rooms  and 
went  from  one  part  of  the  city  to  another  serving  meals. 

The  vein  of  humor  of  irrepressible  eft'ervescence  of 
spirit  born  of  Bohemianism  gave  to  these  eating  places 
high  sounding  names,  and  many  were  covered  with 
witty  signs  which  laughed  in  the  face  of  Fate. 

Fillmore  became  the  great  business  street  of  the  city 
now  in  ashes,  and  here  were  established  the  first  restau- 
rants of  any  pretensions,  the  Louvre  being  first  to  open 
an  establishment  that  had  the  old-time  appearance. 
This  was  on  the  corner  of  Fillmore  and  Ellis,  and  had 
large  patronage,  it  being  crowded  nightly  with  men  and 
women  who  seemed  to  forget  that  San  Francisco  had 
been  destroyed.  Thompson  opened  a  large  restaurant 
in  O'Farrell  street,  just  above  Fillmore,  and  for  two 
years  or  more  did  a  thriving  business,  his  place  being 
noted  for  its  good  cooking  and  its  splendid  service.  One 
of  his  waiters,  Phil  Tyson,  was  one  of  the  earlier  ones  to 
go  back  into  the  burned  district  to  begin  business  and  he 
opened  a  restaurant  called  the  Del  Monte  in  Powell 
street  near  Market,  but  it  was  too  early  for  success  and 
closed  after  a  short  career. 

Thompson  enlisted  others  to  join  with  him  in  open- 
ing a  magnificent  place  under  the  new  Flood  building 
at  the  gore  of  Powell  and  Market  street,  but  through 
faulty  understanding  of  financial  power  Thompson  was 
compelled  to  give  up  his  interest  and  the  place  after- 
ward closed.  It  has  since  been  reopened  under  the 
name  of  the  Portola-Louvre,  where  now  crowds  assem- 

4i 


BOHEMIAN 

ble  nightly  to  listen  to  music  and  witness  cabaret  per- 
formances. Here,  as  well  as  in  a  number  of  other 
places,  one  can  well  appreciate  the 

BOHEMIA  colloquial  definition  of  "cabaret." 
OF  THE  That  which  takes  the  rest  out  of  res- 

PRESENT  taurant  and  puts  the  din  in  dinner. 
If  one  likes  noise  and  distraction 
while  eating  such  places  are  good  to  patronize. 

Across  the  street  from  the  Portola-Louvre  at  15 
Powell  street  is  the  modernized  Techau  Tavern  now 
known  as  "Techau's".  Here  there  is  always  good  music 
and  food  well  cooked  and  well  served,  and  always  a 
lively  crowd  during  the  luncheon,  dinner  and  after- 
theatre  hours.  The  room  is  not  large  but  its  dimensions 
are  greatly  magnified  owing  to  the  covering  of  mirrors 
which  line  the  walls.  This  garish  display  of  mirrors, 
and  elaborate  decoration  of  ceiling  and  pillars,  gives  it 
the  appearance  of  the  abode  of  Saturnalia,  but  decorum 
is  the  rule  among  the  patrons. 

Around  at  168  O'Farrell  street,  just  opposite  the 
Orpheum  theatre,  is  Tait-Zinkand  restaurant,  or  as  it  is 
more  popularly  known,  "Tait's".  John  Tait  is  the  pre- 
siding spirit  here,  he  having  made  reputation  as  club 
manager,  and  then  as  manager  of  the  Cliff  House.  One 
of  the  partners  here  was  Carl  Zinkand,  who  ran  the  old 
Zinkand's  before  the  fire. 

While  these  three  restaurants  are  of  similar  type 
neither  has  the  pre-fire  atmosphere.  They  are  lively, 
always,  with  music  and  gay  throngs,  and  serve  good 
food. 

One  of  the  early  restaurants  established  after  the 
fire  was  Blanco's,  at  857  O'Farrell  street,  and  later 
Blanco  opened  the  Poodle  Dog  in  Mason  street  just 
above  Eddy.  Both  of  these  restaurants  are  of  the  old 
French  type  and  are  high  class  in  every  respect.  The 
Poodle  Dog  has  a  hotel  attachment  where  one  may  get 
rooms  or  full  apartments. 

42 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

If  you  know  how  to  order,  and  do  not  care  to  count 
the  cost  when  you  order,  probably  the  best  dinner  at 
these  restaurants  can  be  had  at  either 
Blanco's   or  the  Poodle   Dog.      The      BOHEMIA 
cuisine  is  of  the  best  and  the  chefs        OF  THE 
rank  at  the  top  of  their  art.     Prices       PRESENT 
are  higher  than  at  the  other  restau- 
rants mentioned,  but  one  certainly  gets  the  best  there  is 
prepared  in  the  best  way. 

But  the  same  food,  prepared  equally  well,  is  to  be 
found  in  a  number  of  less  pretentious  places.  At  the 
two  mentioned  one  pays  for  the  surroundings  as  well  as 
for  the  food,  and  sometimes  this  is  worth  paying  for. 

The  restaurants  of  the  present  day  that  approach 
nearest  the  old  Bohemian  restaurants  of  pre-fire  days, 
of  the  French  class,  are  Jack's  in  Sacramento  street  be- 
tween Montgomery  and  Kearny;  Felix,  in  Montgomery 
street  between  Clay  and  Washington,  and  the  Poodle 
Dog-Bergez-Franks,  in  Bush  street  between  Kearny  and 
Grant  avenue.  In  either  of  these  restaurants  you  will 
be  served  with  the  best  the  market  affords,  cooked  "the 
right  way."  In  Clay  street  opposite  the  California  Mar- 
ket is  the  New  Frank's,  one  of  the  best  of  the  Italian 
restaurants,  and  much  patronized  by  Italian  merchants. 
Next  to  it  is  Coppa's,  but  it  is  no  longer  run  by  Coppa. 
In  this  same  district  is  the  Mint,  in  Commercial  street 
between  Montgomery  and  Kearny  streets.  It  has  changed 
from  what  it  was  in  the  old  days,  but  is  still  an  excellent 
place  to  dine. 

Negro's,  at  625  Merchant  street,  near  the  Hall  of 
Justice,  has  quite  a  following  of  those  whose  business 
attaches  them  to  the  courts,  and  while  many  claim  this 
to  be  one  of  the  best  of  its  class,  we  believe  the  claim  to 
be  based  less  on  good  cooking  than  on  the  fact  that  the 
habitues  are  intimate,  making  it  a  pleasant  resort  for 
them.  The  cooking  is  good  and  the  variety  what  the 
market  affords. 

45 


BOHEMIAN 

In  Washington  street,  just  off  Columbus  avenue,  is 

Bonini's  Barn,  making  great  pretense  through  an  unique 

idea.    So  far  as  the  restaurant  is  con- 

BOHEMIA  cerned  the  food  is  a  little  below  the 

OF  THE  average  of  Italian  restaurants.     One 

PRESENT  goes  there  once  through  curiosity  and 

finds  himself  in  a  room  that  has  all 
the  appearance  of  the  interior  of  a  barn,  with  chickens 
and  pigeons  strutting  around,  harness  hanging  on  pegs, 
and  hay  in  mangers,  and  all  the  farming  utensils  around 
to  give  it  the  verisimilitude  of  country.  Tables  and 
chairs  are  crude  in  the  extreme  and  old-time  lanterns 
are  used  for  lighting.  It  is  an  idea  that  is  worth  while, 
but,  unfortunately,  the  proprietors  depend  too  much  on 
the  decorative  feature  and  too  little  on  the  food  and 
how  they  serve  it. 

The  Fly  Trap,  and  Charlie's  Fashion,  the  first  in 
Sutter  street  near  Kearny  and  the  other  in  Market  near 
Sutter,  serve  well-cooked  foods,  especially  soup,  salads, 
and  fish.  Of  course  these  are  not  the  entire  menus  but 
of  all  the  well-prepared  dishes  these  are  their  best. 
Felix,  mentioned  before,  also  makes  a  specialty  of  his 
family  soup,  which  is  excellent. 

Spanish  dinners  of  good  quality  are  to  be  had  at  the 
Madrilena,  at  177  Eddy  street,  and  at  the  Castilian,  at 
344  Sutter  street.  Both  serve  good  Spanish  dinners  at 
reasonable  prices.  They  serve  table  d'hote  dinners,  but 
you  can  also  get  Spanish  dishes  on  special  order. 

Under  the  Monadnock  building,  in  Market  street 
near  Third,  is  Jule's,  well  liked  and  well  patronized  be- 
cause of  its  good  cooking  and  good  service.  Jule  is  one 
of  the  noted  restaurateurs  of  the  city,  having  attained 
high  cck'hrily  before  the  fire.  His  prices  are  moderate 
and  his  cooking  and  viands  of  the  best,  and  will  satisfy 
the  most  critical  of  the  gourmets. 

At  the  corner  of  Market  and  Eddy  streets  is  the 
Odeon,  down  in  a  basement,  with  decorations  of  most 

U 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

garish  order.    There  is  a  good  chef  and  the  place  has 
quite  a  vogue  among  lovers  of  good  things  to  eat. 
Probably  at  no  place  in  San  Fran- 
cisco can  one  find  game  cooked  better         BOHEMIA 
than  at  Jack's,  615  Sacramento  street.  OF  THE 

His  ducks  are  always  cooked  so  as  to  PRESENT 

elicit  high  praise.  He  has  an  old-style 
French  table  d'hote  dinner  which  he  serves  for  $1.25, 
including  wine.  Or  you  may  order  anything  in  the  mar- 
ket and  you  will  find  it  cooked  "the  best  way."  One  of 
the  specialties  of  Jack's  is  fish,  for  which  the  restaurant 
is  noted.  It  is  always  strictly  fresh  and  cooked  to  suit 
the  most  fastidious  taste. 


i5 


BOHEMIAN 

When  you  see  August  (do  not  fail  to  pronounce  it 

Owgoost)  in  repose  you  involuntarily  say,  that  is  if  you 

understand    German,    "Mir   ist    alles 

AS  IT  IS         an,"  which  is  the  German  equivalent 

IN  of  "I  should  worry."     When  August 

GERMANY  is  in  action  you  immediately  get  a 
thirst  that  nothing  but  a  stein  of  cold 
beer  will  quench.  August  is  the  pride  of  the  Heidelberg 
Inn  at  35  Ellis  street.  All  you  can  see  from  the  street  as 
you  pass  around  the  corner  from  Market,  is  a  sign  and 
some  stairs  leading  down  into  a  basement,  but  do  not 
draw  back  just  because  it  is  a  basement  restaurant,  for 
if  you  do  you  will  miss  one  of  the  very  few  real  Bo- 
hemian restaurants  of  San  Francisco.  Possibly  our 
point  of  view  will  not  coincide  with  that  of  others,  but 
while  there  are  dozens  of  other  Bohemian  restaurants 
there  is  but  one  Heidelberg  Inn.  Here  is  absolute  free- 
dom from  irksome  conventionality  of  other  people,  and 
none  of  the  near  Bohemianism  of  so  many  places  claim- 
ing the  title. 

At  the  Heidelberg  Inn  one  need  never  fear  obtrusive- 
ness  on  the  part  of  other  visitors,  for  here  everybody 
attends  strictly  to  his  or  her  own  party,  enjoying  a 
camaraderie  that  has  all  the  genuine,whole-souled  com- 
panionship found  only  where  German  families  are  ac- 
customed to  congregate  to  seek  relaxation  from  the  toil 
and  worry  of  the  day. 

An  evening  spent  in  Heidelberg  Inn  is  one  replete 
with  character  study  that  cannot  be  excelled  any^vhere 
in  San  Francisco — and  this  means  that  everybody  there 
is  worth  while  as  a  study,  from  the  little,  bald-headed 
waiter,  Heine,  and  the  big,  imposing  waiter,  August,  to 
the  "Herr  Doctor"  who  comes  to  forget  the  serious  sur- 
gical case  that  has  been  worrying  him  at  the  hospital. 
Here  you  do  not  find  obtrusive  waiters  brushing  imag- 
inary crumbs  from  your  cliair  with  obsequious  hand, 
nor  over  zealous  stewards  solicitous  of  your  food's  qual- 

46 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

ity.    It  is  all  perfect  because  it  is  made  perfect  by  good 
management.    Here  are  (ierman  families,  from  Gross- 
fader  and  Grossmuttcr,  down  to  the 
newest  grandchild,  sitting  and  enjoy-  AS  IT  IS 

ing  their  beer  and  listening  to  such  IN 

music  as  can  be  heard  nowhere  else        GERMANY 
in  San  Francisco,  as  they  eat  their 
sandwiches  of  limburgcr,  or  more  dainty  dishes  accord- 
ing to  their  tastes. 

One  can  almost  imagine  himself  in  one  of  the  fa- 
mous rathskellers  of  Old  Heidelberg — not  at  the  Schloss, 
of  course,  for  here  you  cannot  look  down  on  the  Weiser 
as  it  flows  beneath  the  windows  of  the  great  wine  stube 
on  the  hill.  But  you  have  the  real  atmosphere,  and  this 
is  enhanced  by  the  mottoes  in  decoration  and  the  flag- 
ons, steins  and  plaques  that  adorn  the  pillars  as  well  as 
typical  German  enviromnent. 

It  is  when  the  martial  strains  of  "De  Wacht  am 
Rhein"  are  heard  from  the  orchestra,  which  of  itself  is 
an  institution,  that  the  true  camaraderie  of  the  place  is 
appreciated,  for  then  guests,  waiters,  barkeepers,  and 
even  the  eagle-eyed,  gray-haired  manager,  join  in  the 
swelling  chorus,  and  you  can  well  understand  why  Ger- 
man soldiers  are  inspired  to  march  to  victory  when  they 
hear  these  stirring  chords. 

But  there  is  other  music — sometimes  neither  inspir- 
ing nor  beautiful  when  heard  in  a  German  rathskeller 
— the  music  of  rag  time.  If  there  is  anything  funnier 
than  a  German  orchestra  trying  to  play  rag-time  music 
we  have  never  heard  it.  It  is  unconscious  humor  on 
part  of  the  orchestra,  consequently  is  all  the  more  ex- 
cruciating. 

But  if  you  really  love  good  music — music  that  has 
melody  and  rhythm  and  soothing  cadences,  go  to  the 
Heidelberg  Inn  and  listen  to  the  concert  which  is  a  fea- 
ture of  the  place  every  evening.  And  while  you  are 
listening  to  the  music  you  can  enjoy  such  food  as  is  to 

47 


BOHEMIAN 

be  found  nowhere  else  in  San  Francisco,  for  it  is  dis- 
tinctly Heidelbcrgian.     We  asked  for  the  recipe  that 
they  considered  the  very  best  in  the 
AS  IT  IS         restaurant,  and  Hirsch,  with  a  shrug 
IN  of  his  shoulders,  said:    "Oh,  we  have 

GERMANY       ^^  many  fine  dishes."    We  finally  got 
him  to  select  the  one  prized  above  all 
others  and  this  is  what  Chef  Scheiler  gave  us: 

GERMAN        Take    four    pounds    of   clear    beef,    from 
SAUER  either  the  sliouhJer  or  rump,  and  pickle  it 

"^RATEN         ^^^  ^'^^'^  days  in  one-half  gallon  of  claret 
and  one-half  gallon  of  good  wine  vinegar 
(not  cider).     To  the  pickle  add  two  large  onions  cut  in  quar- 
ters, two  fresh  carrots  and  about  one  ounce  of  mixed  whole  all- 
spice, black  peppers,  cloves  and  bay  leaves. 

When  ready  for  cooking  take  the  meat  out  of  the  brine  and 
put  in  a  roasting  pan.  Put  in  the  oven  and  brown  to  a  golden 
color.  Then  take  it  out  of  the  roasting  pan  and  put  it  into  a 
casserole,  after  sprinkling  it  with  two  ounces  of  flour.  Put  into 
the  oven  again  and  cook  for  half  an  hour,  basting  frequently 
with  the  original  brine. 

When  done  take  the  meat  out  of  the  sauce.  Strain  the 
sauce  through  a  fine  collander  and  add  a  few  raisins,  a  piece 
of  honey  cake,  or  ginger  snaps  and  the  meat  of  one  fresh  to- 
mato. Season  with  salt  and  pepper  and  a  little  sugar  to  taste. 
Slice  and  serve  with  the  sauce  over  it. 

For  those  who  like  German  dishes  and  German 
cooking  it  is  not  necessary  to  confine  ^''ourself  to  the 
Heidelberg  Inn,  for  both  the  Hof  Brau,  in  Market  just 
above  Fourth  street,  and  the  German  House  Rathskel- 
ler, at  Turk  and  Polk  streets  are  good  places  where  you 
can  get  what  you  want.  The  Hof  Brau,  however,  is  less 
distinctively  German  as  the  greater  number  of  its  pa- 
trons are  Americans.  The  specialty  of  the  Hof  Brau  is 
abalones,  and  they  have  as  a  feature  this  shell  fish 
cooked  in  several  ways.  They  also  have  as  the  chef  in 
charge  of  the  abalone  dishes,  Herbert,  formerly  chef  for 
one  of  the  yacht  clubs  of  the  coast,  who  claims  to  have 
the   only  j)roper  recipe   for  making  abalones   tender. 

48 


SAN   FRANCISCO 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  abalone  is  tough  and 
unpalatable,  but  after  the  deft  manipulation  of  Herbert 
they  are  tender  and  make  a  fine  dish, 
either  fried,  as  chowder  or  a  la  New-  ^^^  ^^  ^^ 

berg.    In  addition  to  abalones  the  Hof  ^^ 

Brau  makes  a  specialty  of  little  Ore-  GERMANY 
gon  crawfish.  While  there  is  a  dis- 
tinctive German  atmosphere  at  the  Rathskeller  of  the 
German  House,  the  place  is  too  far  out  to  gather  such 
numbers  as  congregate  at  either  the  Heidelberg  or  the 
Hof  Brau,  but  one  can  get  the  best  of  German  cooking 
here  and  splendid  service,  and  for  a  quiet  little  "Dutch 
supper"  we  know  of  no  place  that  will  accommodate 
you  better  than  the  Rathskeller. 

On  special  occasions,  when  some  German  society  or 
club  is  giving  a  dance  or  holding  a  meeting  at  the  Ger- 
man House,  the  Rathskeller  is  the  most  typical  German 
place  in  San  Francisco,  and  if  you  go  at  such  a  time  you 
will  get  all  the  "atmosphere"  you  will  desire,  as  well  as 
the  best  the  market  affords  in  the  way  of  good  viands. 


49 


BOHEMIAN 

What  a  relief  it  is  sometimes  to  have  a  good  waiter 

say:    "You  do  not  know  what  you  want?    Will  you  let 

me  bring  you  the  best  there  is  in  the 

IN  THE  HEART    house  ?"     Sometimes,  you  know,  you 

OF  really  do  not  know  what  you  want, 

ITALY  and  usually  when  that  is  the  case  you 

are  not  very  hungry.    That  is  always 

a  good  time  to  try  new  things.    It  is  also  possible  that 

j'ou  do  not  know  what  you  want  because  you  do  not 

know  how  to  order.    In  either  instance  our  advice  is,  if 

the  waiter  gets  confidential  and  offers  his  assistance  you 

will  certainly  miss  something  if  you  do  not  accept  his 

good  offices. 

This  was  the  case  with  us,  one  day  when  we  were 
over  at  1549  Stockton  street,  near  Washington  Square, 
at  the  Gianduja.  The  proper  pronunciation  of  this  is  as 
if  it  were  spelled  Zhan-du-ya.  This  is  one  of  the  good 
Italian  restaurants  of  the  Latin  quarter.  At  the  Gian- 
duja you  get  the  two  prime  essentials  to  a  good  meal — 
good  cooking  and  excellent  service.  It  matters  not 
whether  you  take  their  thirty-five  cent  luncheon  or  or- 
der a  most  elaborate  meal,  you  will  find  that  the  sers'ice 
is  just  what  it  ought  to  be.  We  asked  Brenti  what  he 
considered  his  most  famous  dish,  and  like  all  other  pro- 
prietors, he  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  said,  with  hands 
emphasizing  his  words: 

"We  have  so  many  fine  dishes." 

"Of  course  we  know  that,  but  what  do  you  consider 
the  very  best?" 

"There  is  no  one  the  'very  best'.  I  could  give  you 
two." 

"Let  it  be  two,  then,"  was  our  immediate  rejoinder, 
and  here  is  what  he  gave  us  as  the  best  recipes  of  the 
Gianduja. 

First,  let  us  give  you  an  idea  of  the  difficulty  under 
which  we  secured  these  recipes  by  printing  them  just  as 
he  wrote  them  down  for  us,  and  then  we  shall  elaborate 

50 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

a  little  and  show  the  result  of  skillful  questioning.    This 
is  the  way  he  wrote  the  recipe  for  Risotto  Milanaise: 

"Onions  chop  fine — marrow  and  little 
butter — rice — saffron  —  chicken    broth —       ^^im Vnjat\p^ 
wen  cook  add  fresh  butter  and  Parmesan  MILANAISE 

cheese  seasoned. 

What  was  embodied  in  the  words  "wen  cook"  was 
the  essential  of  the  recipe  and  here  is  the  way  we  got  it: 

Chop  one  large  onion  fine.  Cut  a  beef  marrow  into  small 
dice  and  stir  it  with  the  chopped  onion.  Put  a  small  piece  of 
butter  in  a  frying  pan  and  into  this  put  the  onion  and  marrow 
and  fry  to  a  delicate  brown.  Now  add  one  scant  cup  of  rice, 
stirring  constantly,  and  into  this  put  a  pinch  of  saffron  that  has 
been  bruised.  When  the  rice  takes  on  a  brown  color  add, 
slowly,  chicken  broth  as  needed,  until  the  rice  is  thoroughly 
cooked.  Then  add  a  lump  of  fresh  butter  about  the  size  of  a 
walnut,  and  sprinkle  liberally  with  grated  Parmesan  cheese, 
seasoning  to  taste  with  pepper  and  salt.  This  is  to  be  served 
with  chicken  or  veal. 

The  second  recipe  was  for  Fritto  Misto,  and  he  wrote 
it  as  follows : 

"Lamb    chops    and    brains    breaded —  MTVrn 

sweetbreads  —  escallop     of     veal  —  fresh  MlblU 

mushrooms — Italian  squash  when  in  sea- 
son— asparagus  or  cauliflower — fried  in  fresh  butter — dipped 
in  beaten  eggs — lime  jus." 

"Fritto  Misto"  means  fried  mixture,  and  the  recipe  as 
we  finally  elucidated  it  is  as  follows: 

Take  a  lamb  chop,  a  piece  of  calf  brain,  one  sweetbread,  a 
slice  of  veal,  a  fresh  mushroom,  sliced  Italian  squash,  a  piece 
of  asparagus  or  of  cauliflower  and  dip  these  into  a  batter  made 
of  an  egg  well  beaten  with  a  little  flour.  Sprinkle  these  with  a 
little  lime  juice  and  fry  to  a  delicate  brown  in  butter,  adding 
salt  and  pepper  to  taste. 

At  the  Gianduja,  as  at  all  other  Italian  restaurants 
not  much  affected  by  Americans,  you  will  find  an  at- 
mosphere of  unconventionality  that  is  delightful  to  the 
Bohemian.    There  is  no  irksome  espionage  on  the  part 

51 


BOHEMIAN 

of  other  patrons,  all  of  whom  are  there  for  the  purpose 
of  attending  strictly  to  their  own  business,  and  the  af- 
fairs of  other  diners  are  of  no  conse- 
IN  THE  HEART  quence  to  them.     There  is  freedom 
Qp  of   expression   and   unconsciousness, 

j'j'^LY  most   pleasing   after   having   experi- 

enced those  other  restaurants  where 
it  seems  to  be  the  business  of  all  the  rest  of  the  guests 
to  know  just  what  you  are  eating  and  drinking.  There 
is  little  of  the  obnoxious  posing  that  one  finds  in  res- 
taurants of  the  down-town  districts,  for  while  Italians, 
in  common  with  all  other  Latins,  are  natural  born 
poseurs,  they  are  not  offensive  in  it,  but  rather  impress 
you  with  the  same  feeling  as  the  antics  of  a  child. 

One  of  the  little,  out-of-the  way  restaurants  of  the 
Italian  quarter  is  the  Leon  d'Oro,  at  1525  Grant  avenue, 
and  it  is  one  of  the  surprises  of  that  district.  Lazzarini, 
he  with  the  big  voice,  presides  over  the  tiny  kitchen  in 
the  rear  of  the  room  devoted  to  public  service  and  fam- 
ily affairs.  Soft-voiced  Rita,  with  her  demure  air  and 
her  resemblance  to  Evangeline,  with  her  crossed  apron 
strings  and  delicate  features,  takes  your  order,  and  soon 
comes  the  booming  sound  from  the  neighborhood  of  the 
range,  that  announces  to  all  patrons,  as  well  as  to  some 
who  may  be  in  the  vicinity  on  the  street,  that  your  order 
is  ready,  and  then  everybody  knows  what  you  are  eat- 
ing. As  you  sit,  either  in  curtained  alcove  or  at  the  com- 
mon table  in  the  main  room,  little  Andrea  will  visit  you 
with  his  cat.  Both  are  institutions  of  the  place  and  one 
is  prone  to  wonder  how  a  cat  can  have  so  much  patience 
with  a  little  boy.  Andrea  speaks  Italian  so  fluently  and 
so  rapidly  that  it  gives  you  the  impression  of  a  quick 
rushing  stream  of  pure  water,  tumbling  over  the  stones 
of  a  sleep  declivity.  He  is  not  yd  old  enough  to  under- 
stand that  it  is  not  everybody  who  knows  how  to  speak 
Italian,  but  that  makes  not  the  slightest  difference  with 
him,  for  he  talks  without  ever  expecting  an  answer. 

52 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Lazzarini  understands  the  art  and  science  of  cook- 
ing, and  some  of  the  dishes  he  prepares  are  so  unusual 
that  one  goes  again  and  again  to  partake  of  them :  Pos- 
sibly his  best  dish  is  the  following : 

Cut  a  spring  chicken  into  pieces.  Place  these  in  a  pan  con- 
taining hot  olive  oil,  and  season  with  salt  and  pepper.  Turn 
the  chicken  until  it  is  thoroughly  browned,  nxjirvv^'-M 

and  add  finely  chopped  green  peppers.    Let  at  a 

it  cook  awhile  then  add  a  finely  chopped  rrvM  rw^nn 

clove  of  garlic  and  a  little  sage.    Put  in  a        LEON  D  ORO 
small  glass  of  Marsala  wine,  tomato  sauce 

and  French  mushrooms  and  let  simmer  for  ten  minutes.  Before 
taking  from  the  pan  add  half  a  tablespoonful  of  butter  and 
serve  on  a  hot  plate. 

Lazzarini  also  makes  a  specialty  of  snails,  and  they 
are  well  worth  trying  while  you  are  experimenting  wdth 
the  unusual  things  to  eat.  The  recipe  for  these  is  as 
follows : 

Put  ten  pounds  of  snails  in  a  covered  SNAILS 

barrel  and  keep  for  ten  days.    Then  put  in  A  LA 

a  tub  with  a  handful  of  salt  and  a  quar-        BORDELAISE 
ter  of  a  gallon  of  vinegar.    Stir  for  twenty 

minutes  until  a  foam  rises,  then  take  out  and  wash  thoroughly 
until  the  water  runs  clear.  Put  in  a  large  pot  a  pint  of  virgin 
olive  oil,  four  large  onions  and  eight  cloves  of  garlic,  all 
chopped  fine,  and  a  small  bunch  of  parsley,  chopped  fine.  Put 
the  pot  over  the  fire  and  when  the  onions  are  browned  stir  in 
some  white  wine  or  Marsala  and  then  put  in  the  snails.  Cover 
and  let  simmer  for  thirty-five  minutes.  "While  cooking  add  a 
pint  of  meat  stock,  a  little  butter  and  some  anise  seed.  When 
done  put  in  a  soup  tureen  and  serve.  To  remove  the  snails  use 
small  wooden  toothpicks. 


53 


BOHEMIAN 

San  Francisco's  world-famed  Chinatown,  like  the 
rest  of  the  city,  is  changed  since  the  big  fire,  and  the 
Chinatown  of  today  is  but  a  remi- 
A  BREATH  OF  niscence  of  the  old  Oriental  city  that 
THE  was  set  in  the  midst  of  the  most  thriv- 

ORIENT  ing  Occidental  metropolis — The  City 

That  Was.  There  has  never  been 
much  of  Chinatown  that  savored  of  Bohemianism,  but 
it  has  always  been  the  vogue  for  visitors  to  make  a  trip 
through  its  mysterious  alleys,  peering  into  the  fearsome 
dark  doorways,  listening  to  the  ominous  slamming 
doors  of  the  "clubs,"  and  shuddering  in  a  delightful 
horror  at  the  recumbent  opium  smokers,  pointed  out  to 
them  by  the  industrious  guide.  And  when  they  were 
taken  into  one  of  the  gambling  houses  and  shown  the 
double  doors,  and  the  many  contrivances  used  to  pre- 
vent police  interference  with  the  innocent  games  of  fan 
tan  and  then  were  shown  the  secret  underground  pass- 
age leading  from  one  of  the  gambling  houses  to  the 
stage  of  the  great  Chinese  theatre,  two  blocks  away, 
they  went  home  ready  to  believe  anything  told  them 
about  "the  ways  that  are  dark  and  tricks  that  are  vain," 
for  they  were  sure  "the  heathen  Chinee  was  peculiar." 

Chinese  restaurant  life  never  appealed  to  Bohe- 
mians, and  when  it  became  necessary  to  entertain  vis- 
itors with  a  trip  to  a  Chinatown  restaurant  the  ordinary 
service  was  of  tea  and  rice  cakes,  served  from  lacquered 
trays,  in  gaudy  rooms,  and  the  admiring  visitors  could 
well  imagine  themselves  in  "far  off  Cathay." 

Then  came  the  fire  and  Chinatown,  with  the  rest  of 
the  down-town  portion  of  San  Francisco,  passed  away. 
In  the  rebuilding  the  owners  of  the  properties  concluded 
to  give  the  quarter  a  more  Chinese  aspect  and  pagoda- 
like structures  are  now  to  be  found  in  all  parts  of  the 
section.  The  curiosity  of  the  tourist  is  an  available 
asset  to  Chinatown,  and  with  queer  houses  and  queerer 
articles  on  sale  there  is  always  plenty  of  uninitiated  to 

54 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

keep  the  guides  busy,  but  from  a  city  of  more  than 
twenty-five  thousand  Orientals  in  the  midst  of  an  en- 
lightened city — an  Asiatic  city  that  had 
its  own  laws  and  executed  its  crim-    A  BREATH  OF 
als  with  the  most  utter  disregard  for  THE 

American  laws,  it  has  changed  into  ORIENT 

one  of  the  most  law-abiding  parts  of 
the  great  city.    With  the  passing  of  the  queue  came  the 
adoption  of  the  American  style  of  dressing,  and  much 
of  the  picturesqueness  of  the  old  Chinatown  has  disap- 
peared. 

But  with  the  changed  conditions  there  has  come  a 
change  in  the  restaurant  life  of  the  quarter,  and  now  a 
number  of  places  have  been  opened  to  cater  to  Ameri- 
cans, and  on  every  hand  one  sees  "chop  suey"  signs,  and 
"Chinese  noodles."  It  goes  without  saying  that  one  sel- 
dom sees  a  Chinaman  eating  in  the  restaurants  that  are 
most  attractive  to  Americans.  Some  serve  both  white 
and  yellow  and  others  serve  but  the  Chinese,  and  a  few 
favored  white  friends. 

Probably  the  best  restaurant  in  Chinatown  is  that  of 
the  Hang  Far  Low  Company,  at  723  Grant  avenue.  Here 
is  served  such  a  variety  of  strange  dishes  that  one  has  to 
be  a  brave  Bohemian,  indeed,  to  partake  without  ques- 
tion. Ordinarily  when  Chinese  restaurants  are  men- 
tioned but  two  dishes  are  thought  of — chop  suey  and 
chow  main.  But  neither  is  considered  among  the  fine 
dishes  served  to  Chinese  epicures.  It  is  much  as  if  one 
of  our  best  restaurants  were  to  advertise  hash  as  its 
specialty.  Both  these  dishes  might  be  termed  glorified 
hash.  The  ingredients  are  so  numerous  and  so  varied 
with  occasion  that  one  is  tempted  to  imagine  them  made 
of  the  table  leavings,  and  that  is  not  at  all  pleasant  to 
contemplate. 

We  asked  one  of  the  managers  at  the  Hang  Far  Low 
what  he  would  order  if  he  wished  to  get  the  best  dish 
prepared  in  the  restaurant,  and  he  was  even  more  em- 

55 


BOHEMIAN 

phatic  in  his  shrugs  than  the  French  or  Italian  man- 
agers.    He  protested   that   there   were   so   many  good 

things  it  was  impossible  to  name  just 

A  BREATH  OF    one  as  being  the  best.    "You  see,  we 

THE  have   fish   fins,   they   are  very  good. 

ORIENT  Snails,  China  style.     Very  good,  too. 

Then  we  have  turtle  brought  from 
China,  different  from  the  turtle  they  have  here,  and  we 
cook  it  China  style.  Eels  come  from  China  and  they  are 
cooked  China  style,  too.  What  is  China  style?  That  I 
cannot  tell  j'ou  for  the  cook  knows  and  nobody  else. 
When  we  cook  China  style  everj'thing  is  more  better. 
We  have  here  the  very  best  tea." 

This  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  what  to  expect 
when  visiting  Chinatown's  restaurants,  and  while  we 
confess  to  having  some  excellent  dishes  served  us  in 
Chinatown,  our  preference  lies  in  other  paths  of  en- 
deavor. We  suppose  it  is  all  in  the  point  of  view,  and 
our  point  of  view  is  that  there  is  nothing  except  super- 
ficiality in  the  ordinary  Chinese  restaurants  frequented 
by  Americans,  and  those  not  so  frequented  are  impos- 
sible because  of  the  average  Chinaman's  disregard  for 
dirt  and  the  usual  niceties  of  food  preparation. 


56 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

We  wish  it  were  in  our  power  to  describe  a  certain 
dinner  as  served  us  in  a  Japanese  restaurant  in  the  days 
that  followed  the  great  fire.    Desiring 
to  observe  in  fitting  manner  a  birth-         ARTISTIC 
day  anniversary,  we  asked  a  Japanese  JAPAN 

friend  if  he  could  secure  admission 
for  a  little  party  at  a  restaurant  noted  for  serving  none 
but  the  highest  class  Japanese.  We  did  not  even  know 
where  the  restaurant  was  but  had  heard  of  such  a  place, 
and  when  we  received  word  that  we  would  be  permitted 
to  have  a  dinner  there  we  invited  a  newspaper  friend 
who  was  in  the  city  from  New  York,  together  with  two 
other  friends  and  the  Japanese,  who  was  the  editor  of 
the  Soko  Shimbun.  He  took  us  to  a  dwelling  house  in 
O'Farrell  street,  having  given  previous  notice  of  our 
coming.  There  was  nothing  on  the  outside  to  indicate 
that  it  was  anything  but  a  residence,  but  when  we  were 
ushered  into  the  large  front  room,  we  found  it  beauti- 
fully decorated  with  immense  chrysanthemums,  and 
glittering  with  silver  and  cut  glass  on  a  magnificently 
arranged  table. 

In  deference  to  the  fact  that  all  but  our  Japanese 
friend  were  unaccustomed  to  chopsticks,  forks  were 
placed  on  the  table  as  well  as  the  little  sticks  that  the 
Orientals  use  so  deftly.  At  each  place  was  a  beautiful 
lacquer  tray,  about  twelve  by  eighteen  inches,  a  pair  of 
chopsticks,  a  fork  and  a  teaspoon.  Before  the  meal  was 
over  several  of  us  became  quite  expert  in  using  the 
chopsticks. 

When  we  were  seated  in  came  two  little  Japanese 
women,  in  full  native  costume,  bearing  a  service  of  tea. 
The  cups  and  saucers  were  of  a  most  delicate  blue  and 
white  ware,  with  teapot  to  match.  Our  first  cup  was 
taken  standing  in  deference  to  a  Japanese  custom  where 
all  drank  to  the  host.  Then  followed  saki  in  little 
artistic  bottles  and  saki  cups  that  hold  not  much  more 
than  a  double  tablespoonful.    Saki  is  the  Japanese  wine 

S7 


BOHEMIAN 

made  of  rice,  and  is  taken  in  liberal  quantities.    At  each 

serving  some  one  drank  to  some  one  else,  then  a  return 

of    the    compliment    was    necessary. 

AHTISTIC  Having  always  heard  that  Orientals 

JAPAN  turned  menus   topsy-turvy  we  were 

not  at  all  surprised  when  the  little 
serving  women  brought  to  each  of  us  two  silver  plates 
and  set  them  on  our  trays.  These  plates  contained  what 
appeared  to  be  cake,  one  seeming  to  be  angel  food  with 
icing,  and  the  other  fruit  cake  with  the  same  covering. 
With  these  came  bowls  of  soup,  served  in  lacquer  ware, 
made  of  glutinous  nests  of  swallows,  and  also  a  salad 
made  of  shark  fms.  We  ate  the  soup  and  salad  and 
found  it  good,  and  then  made  tentative  investigation  of 
the  "cake."  To  our  great  surprise  we  discovered  the 
angel  food  to  be  fish  and  the  "icing"  was  shredded  and 
pressed  lobster.  The  "fruit  cake"  developed  into  pressed 
dark  meat  of  chicken,  with  an  icing  of  pressed  and 
glazed  white  meat  of  the  same  fowl. 

Following  this  came  the  second  service  of  tea,  this 
time  in  cups  of  a  rare  yellow  color  and  beautiful  design, 
with  similar  teapot. 

The  next  course  was  a  mixture  of  immature  vege- 
tables, served  in  a  sort  of  saute.  These  were  sprouting 
beans,  lentils,  peas  and  a  number  of  others  with  which 
we  were  unfamiliar.  The  whole  was  delicately  flavored 
with  a  peculiar  sauce. 

After  a  short  wait,  during  which  the  saki  bottles  cir- 
culated freely,  one  of  the  women  came  in  bearing  aloft 
a  large  silver  tray  on  which  reposed  a  mammoth  cray- 
fish, or  California  lobster.  This  appeared  to  be  covered 
with  shredded  cocoanut,  and  when  it  was  placed  before 
the  host  for  serving  he  was  at  loss,  for  no  previous  ex- 
perience told  him  what  to  do.  It  developed  that  the 
shredded  mass  on  top  was  the  meat  of  the  lobster  which 
had  been  removed  leaving  the  shell-lish  in  perfect  form. 
It  was  served  cold,  with  a  peculiar  sauce. 

58 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Now  followed  the  piece  de  resistance.     A  tub  of 
water  was  brought  in  and  in  this  was  swimming  a  live 
fish,  apparently  of  the  carp  family. 
After  being  on  view  for  a  few  min-         ARTISTIC 
utes  it  was  removed  and  soon  the  JAPAN 

handmaidens   appeared  with   thinly 
sliced  raw  fish,  served  with  soy  sauce.    Ordinarily  one 
can  imagine  nothing  more  repulsive  than  a  dish  of  raw 
fish,  but  we  were  tempted  and  did  eat,  and  found  it 
most  delicious,  delicate,  and  with  a  flavor  of  raw  oysters. 

Next  came  the  third  service  of  tea,  this  time  in  a 
deep  red  ware.  Then  came  a  dessert  of  unusual  flavor 
and  appearance,  followed  by  preserved  ginger  and  fruit. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  during  the  meal,  which 
lasted  from  seven  until  past  midnight,  saki  was  served 
constantly  yet  no  one  felt  its  influence  in  more  than  a 
sense  of  increased  exhilaration.  It  is  customary  to  let 
the  emptied  bottles  remain  on  the  table  until  the  close 
of  the  meal,  and  there  was  a  mighty  showing. 

It  was  impossible  to  eat  all  that  was  set  before  us, 
but  Japanese  custom  forbids  such  a  breach  of  etiquette 
as  an  indication  that  the  food  was  not  perfection,  conse- 
quently the  serving  maids  appeared  bearing  six  carved 
teak  boxes,  and  placed  one  at  each  plate.  Into  these  we 
arranged  the  food  that  was  unconsumed,  and  when  we 
went  away  we  carried  it  with  us.  To  cap  the  climax  the 
Japanese  stripped  the  room  of  its  bounteous  decoration 
of  chrysanthemums  and  piled  them  into  our  arms  and 
we  went  home  loaded  with  food  and  flowers. 

Proprietor  and  all  his  household  accompanied  us  to 
the  door  with  many  bows  and  gesticulations,  wishing  us 
best  of  luck,  and  we  went  back  to  our  homes  in  the 
desolated  city  with  the  feeling  of  having  been  trans- 
ported to  Fairyland  of  the  Orient. 

We  discovered  later  that  our  Japanese  friend  was 
of  the  family  of  the  Emperor  and  was  here  on  a  diplo- 
matic mission. 

59 


BOHEMIAN 

One  cannot  well  write  a  book  on  Bohemian  restau- 
rants of  San  Francisco  without  saying  something  about 
the  great  hotel  whose  history  is  so 

OLD  AM)  intimately  intertwined  with  that  of 
NEW  the  city  since  1873,  when  William  C, 

PALACE  Ralston  determined  that  the  city  by 

the  Golden  Gate  should  have  a  hotel 
commensurate  with  its  importance.  San  Francisco  and 
the  Palace  Hotel  were  almost  synonymous  all  over  the 
world,  and  it  was  conceded  by  travelers  that  nowhere 
else  was  there  a  hostelry  to  equal  this  great  hotel. 

To  the  bon  vivant  the  grills  of  the  Palace  Hotel  con- 
tained more  to  enhance  the  joy  of  living  than  anywhere 
else,  and  here  the  chefs  prided  themselves  with  provid- 
ing the  best  in  the  land,  prepared  in  such  perfect  ways 
as  to  make  a  meal  at  the  Palace  the  perfection  of  gastro- 
nomic art. 

There  are  three  distinct  eras  to  the  history  of  the 
Palace  Hotel,  the  first  being  from  1876  to  1890,  the  sec- 
ond from  1890  to  190G,  and  the  third  from  1900  to  the 
present  day.  In  the  earlier  days  the  grills,  both  that  for 
gentlemen  and  that  for  ladies,  were  noted  for  their 
magnificent  service  and  their  wonderful  cooking.  A 
breakfast  in  the  Ladies'  Grill,  with  an  omelet  of  Cali- 
fornia oysters,  toast  atod  coti'ee,  was  a  meal  long  to  be 
remembered.  Possibly  the  most  famous  dish  of  the  old 
Palace  was  this  one  of  omelet  with  California  oysters, 
and  it  was  prepared  in  the  following  manner: 

OYSTER  (For  two) :     Take  six  eggs,  one  hundred 

OMELET  California   oysters,   one  small   onion,   one 

tablespoonful  of  butter,  one  tablcspoon- 
ful  of  flour,  salt  and  pepper  to  taste.  Beat  the  eggs  to  a 
froth  and  stir  in  the  onion  chopped  fine.  Put  the  eggs  into  an 
omelet  pan  over  a  slow  fire.  Mix  the  flour  and  butter  to  a 
soft  i)aste  with  a  little  cream,  and  stir  in  with  the  oysters,  add- 
ing salt  and  pepper  to  taste.  When  the  eggs  begin  to  stiffen 
pour  the  oysters  over  and  tuin  the  omelet  together.  Serve  on 
hot  plate  with  a  dash  of  paprika. 

60 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

This  is  the  recipe  of  Ernest  Arbogast,  the  chef  for 
many  years  of  the  old  Palace.     The  slightly  coppery 
taste  of  the  California  oysters  gives  a 
piquancy  to  the  flavor  of  the  omelet       OLD  AND 
that  can  be  obtained  in  no  other  way,  NEW 

and  those  who  once  ate  of  Arbogast's      PALACE 
California  oyster  omelet,  invariably 
called  for  it  again  and  again. 

We  asked  Jules  Dauviller,  the  present  chef  of  the 
Palace,  for  the  recipe  of  what  he  considered  the  best 
dish  now  prepared  at  the  Palace  and  he  said  he  would 
give  us  two,  as  it  was  difficult  to  decide  which  was  the 
best  and  most  distinctive.  These  are  the  recipes  as 
he  wrote  them  for  us: 

Trim  some  select  fillet  mignon  of  beef,         PLANKED 
about  four  ounces  of  each,  nicely.     Saute  FILLET 

these  in  a  frying  pan  with  clarified  butter  MIGNON 

on   a  hot  fire.     Dress  on  a   small   round 

plank,  about  four  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter,  decorated  wifh 
a  border  of  mashed  potatoes.  Over  the  fillet  mignon  pour 
stuffed  pimentoes,  covered  with  a  sauce  made  of  fresh  mush- 
rooms, sauteed  sec  over  which  has  been  poured  a  little  Chateau- 
briand sauce.    Serve  Chateaubriand  sauce  in  a  bowl. 

The  second  is: 

Select  six  nice  fresh  sand-dabs.   Raise    f^oLD  FILLET  OF 
the  fillets  from  the  bone,  skin  and  pare     "  SAND-DABS 
nicely,  and  season  with  salt  and  paprika.  PALACE    ' 

Arrange  them  in  an  earthenware  dish.    Cut 

in  Julienne  one  stalk  of  celery,  one  green  pepper,  one  cucum- 
ber, two  or  three  tomatoes,  depending  on  their  size. 

With  the  bone  of  the  sand-dab,  well  cleaned,  make  a  stock 
with  one  bottle  of  Riesling,  juice  of  one  lemon  and  seasoning. 
Add  chervil  and  tarragon.  Season  to  taste  and  cook  the  Juli- 
enne ingredients  with  some  of  the  stock.  When  the  rest  of  the 
stock  is  boiling  poach  it  in  the  fillets  of  sand-dab,  then  remove 
from  the  fire  and  let  get  cold.  Put  the  garnishing  around  the 
fillets  and  put  on  ice  to  get  in  jelly.  When  ready  to  serve  dec- 
orate around  the  dish  with  any  kind  of  salad  you  like,  and  with 
beets,  capers,  olives  and  marinated  mushrooms.  This  must  be 
served  very  cold  and  you  may  serve  mayonnaise  sauce  on  the 
side. 

61 


BOHEMIAN 

We  asked  Dauviller  what  he  considered  his  most 
delicate  salad  and  he  gave  us  this  recipe: 

PALACE  Select  three  hearts  of  celery  and  cut  them 

GRILL  Julienne.    Cut  some  pineapple  and  pimen- 

SALAD  toes  into  dice.     Mix  all  well  together  in 

a  bowl  and  add  mayonnaise  sauce  and  a 

little   whipped   cream.     Sprinkle   some  finely   chopped   green 

peppers  on  top  and  serve  very  cold. 


62 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

On  the  morning  of  April  18,  1906,  one  of  us  stood 
in  the  doorway  of  the  Hotel  St.  Francis,  and  watched 
approaching   fires    that   came   from  at-t 

three  directions.     It  was  but  a  few  ^ ^  inK 

hours  later  when  all  that  part  of  the        ^      iP  \    r 
city  was  a  mass  of  seething  flames,       ^^-  FRANCIS 
and  in  the  ruins  that  lay  in  the  wake 
of  devastation  was  this  magnificent  hostelry. 

Before  business  in  the  down-town  district  was  reor- 
ganized, and  while  the  work  of  removing  the  tangled 
masses  of  debris  was  still  in  progress  the  Merchants 
Association  of  San  Francisco  called  its  members  to- 
gether in  its  annual  banquet,  and  this  banquet  was  held 
in  the  basement  of  the  Hotel  St.  Francis,  the  crumbling 
walls,  and  charred  and  blackened  timbers  hidden  under 
a  mass  of  bunting  and  foliage  and  flowers.  Here  was 
emphasized  the  spirit  of  Bohemian  San  Francisco,  and 
it  was  one  of  the  most  merry  and  enjoyable  of  feasts 
ever  held  in  the  city. 

It  was  made  possible  by  the  fact  that  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Hotel  St.  Francis  was  undaunted  in  the  face 
of  almost  overwhelming  disaster.  The  same  spirit  has 
carried  the  hotel  through  stress  of  storm  and  it  stands 
now,  almost  as  a  monument  to  the  energy  of  James 
Woods,  its  manager.  There  has  always  been  a  soft 
spot  in  our  hearts  for  the  Hotel  St.  Francis,  and  it  is 
here  that  we  have  always  felt  a  most  pleasurable  emo- 
tion when  seeking  a  place  where  good  things  are  served. 
Whether  it  be  in  the  magnificent  white  and  gold  dining 
room,  or  the  old  tapestry  room  that  has  been  remodeled 
into  a  dining  room,  or  in  the  electric  grill  below  stairs, 
it  has  always  been  the  same. 

We  asked  Chef  Victor  Hertzler  what  he  considered 
his  best  recipe  and  his  answer  was  characteristic  of  him. 

"I  shall  give  you  Sole  Edward  VII.  If  this  is  not  sat- 
isfactory I  can  give  you  a  meat,  or  a  salad  or  a  soup 
recipe."    We  considered  it  satisfactory,  and  here  it  is: 

63 


BOHEMIAN 

Cut  the  fillets  out  of  one  sole  and  lay  them  flat  on  a  buttered 
pan,  and  season  with  salt  and  pepper.    Make  the  following  mix- 
ture and  spread  over  each  fillet  of  sole: 
SOLE  Take  one-half  pound  of  sweet  butter,  three 

EDWARD  VII      ounces  of  chopped   salted   almonds,   one- 
fourth    pound    of    chopped    fresh    mush- 
rooms, a  little  chopped  parsley,  the  juice  of  a  lemon,  salt,  pep- 
per and  a  little  grated  nutmeg. 

Add  to  the  pan  one-half  glassful  of  white  wine  and  put  in 
the  oven  for  twenty  minutes. 

"When  done  serve  in  the  pan  by  placing  it  on  a  platter,  with 
a  napkin  under  it. 

Hertzler  has  another  recipe  which  he  prizes  greatly 
and  which  he  calls  "Celery  Victor,"  and  this  is  the 
recipe  which  he  gave  us: 

CELERY  Take   six   stalks    of   celery   well   washed. 

VICTOR  Make  a  stock  of  one  soup  hen  or  chicken 

bones,  and  five  pounds  of  veal  bones  in 

the  usual  manner,  with  carrots,  onions,  parsley,  bay  leaves,  salt 

and  pepper.    Place  the  celery  in  a  vessel  and  strain  the  broth 

over  it.    Boil  until  soft  and  let  cool  off  in  its  own  broth. 

When  cold  press  the  broth  out  of  the  celery  with  the  hand, 
gently,  and  place  on  a  plafe.  Season  with  salt,  fresh  ground 
black  pepper,  chervil,  and  one-quarter  white  wine  vinegar  with 
tarragon  to  three-quarters  of  best  olive  oil. 


64 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Streets  centering  around  Powell  from  Market  up  to 
Geary,  may  well  be  termed  the  "Great  White  Way"  of 
San  Francisco,  if  New  York  will  per- 
mit the  plagiarism.    Here  are  congre-  AMID 
gated  the  most  noted  of  the  lively        BRIGHT 
restaurants  of  the  present  day  San         LIGHTS 
Francisco.       Here     the     streets     are 
ablaze  with  light  at  night,  and  thronged  with  people, 
for  here  is  the  restaurant  and  theatre  district  proper  of 
the  city. 

Among  the  restaurants  deserving  of  special  men- 
tion in  this  district  are  the  two  Solaris.  When  Solari 
opened  his  restaurant  at  354  Geary  street,  where  he 
continues  to  attract  good  livers  by  the  excellence  of  his 
cooking,  he  at  once  achieved  fame  which  has  never 
waned.  It  so  happened  that  there  were  two  brothers, 
and  as  sometimes  occurs  brothers  disagreed  with  the 
result  that  Fred  Solari  withdrew  and  opened  a  restau- 
rant at  Geary  and  Mason,  just  a  short  distance  from  the 
original  place. 

Evidently  the  recipe  for  what  is  considered  best  in 
both  of  the  Solari  restaurants  came  from  common  own- 
ership, for  each  of  these  places  gave  in  response  to  a 
request  for  its  best  recipe,  the  following: 

Cut  a  chicken  in  eight  pieces  and  drop  CHICKEN 

them  into  some  cold  milk,  seasoning  with  COUNTRY 

salt.    After  soaking  for  a  few  minutes  dry  STYLE 

the  chicken  in  flour  and  lay  in  a  frying 

pan  in  good  butter.  Place  in  the  oven  and  let  them  cook  slowly, 
turning  them  occasionally  until  they  are  nice  and  brown  on  all 
sides,  when  remove  them.  In  the  gravy  put  a  tumblerful  of 
cream  and  a  pinch  of  paprika,  mix  well  and  let  it  cook  for  ten 
minutes,  until  it  gets  thick,  then  strain  and  pour  over  the 
chicken  and  serve. 

The  following  "don'ts"  are  added  to  the  recipe:  Don't  use 
frozen  poultry.  Don't  substitute  corn  starch  and  milk  for 
cream. 


65 


BOHEMIAN 

San  Francisco  holds  no  more  interesting  district 

than  that  lying  around  the  base  of  Telegraph  Hill,  and 

extending  over  toward  North  Beach, 

AROLND  even  as  far  as  Fisherman's  Wharf. 
LITTLE  ..Here  is  the  part  of  San  Francisco 
ITALi  ^Y^ryi  fjrst  felt  the  restoration  impulse, 

and  this  was  the  first  part  of  San 
Francisco  rebuilt  after  the  great  fire,  and  in  its  rebuild- 
ing it  recovered  all  of  its  former  characteristics,  which 
is  more  than  can  be  said  of  any  other  part  of  the  re- 
built city. 

Here,  extending  north  from  Jackson  street  to  the 
Bay,  are  congregated  Italians,  French,  Portuguese  and 
Mexicans,  each  in  a  distinct  colony,  and  each  main- 
taining the  life,  manners  and  customs,  and  in  some  in- 
stances the  costumes,  of  the  parent  countries,  as  fully 
as  if  they  were  in  their  native  lands.  Here  are  stores, 
markets,  fish  and  vegetable  stalls,  bakeries,  paste  fac- 
tories, sausage  factories,  cheese  factories,  wine  presses, 
tortilla  bakeries,  hotels,  pensions,  and  restaurants;  each 
distinctive  and  full  of  foreign  life  and  animation,  and 
each  breathing  an  atmosphere  characteristic  of  the 
country'  from  which  the  parent  stock  came. 

Walk  along  the  streets  on  the  side  of  Telegraph 
Hill  and  one  can  well  imagine  himself  transported  to  a 
sunny  hillside  in  Italy,  for  here  he  hears  no  other  lan- 
guage than  that  which  came  from  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  Here  are  Italians  of  all  ages,  sexes  and 
conditions  of  servitude,  from  the  padrone  to  the  boot- 
black who  works  for  a  pittance  until  he  obtains  enough 
to  start  himself  in  business.  If  one  investigate  closely 
it  will  be  found  that  many  of  the  people  of  this  part  of 
San  Francisco  have  been  here  for  years  and  still  under- 
stand no  other  language  than  that  of  their  native  home. 
Why  sliould  they  learn  anytliing  else,  they  say.  Every- 
body around  them,  and  with  whom  they  come  in  con- 
tact speaks  Italian.     Here  are  the  Corsicans,  with  their 

66 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

peculiar  ideas  of  the  vendetta  and  the  cheapness  of  life 
in  general,  and  the  Sicilians  and  Genoese  and  Milanese. 
Here   are   some  from   the   slopes   of 
Vesuvius  or  Aetna,  with  inborn  knowl-  AROUND 

edge  of  the  grape  and  of  wine  making.  LITTLE 

All  have  brought  with  them  recipes  ITALY 

and  traditions,  some  dating  back  for 
hundreds  of  years,  or  even  thousands,  to  the  days  be- 
fore the  Christian  Era  was  born.  It  is  just  the  same  to 
them  as  it  was  across  the  ocean,  for  they  hear  the  same 
dialect  and  have  the  same  customs.  Do  they  desire 
any  special  delicacy  from  their  home  district,  they  need 
but  go  to  the  nearest  Italian  grocery  store  and  get  it, 
for  these  stores  are  supplied  direct  from  Genoa  or 
Naples.  This  is  the  reason  that  many  of  the  older  men 
and  women  still  speak  the  soft  dialect  of  their  native 
communities,  and  if  you  are  so  unfortunate  as  not  to 
be  able  to  understand  them,  then  it  is  you  who  are 
the  loser. 

Do  you  wish  to  know  something  about  conditions  in 
Mexico?  Would  you  like  to  learn  what  the  Mexicans 
themselves  really  think  about  affairs  down  in  that  dis- 
turbed republic?  Go  along  Broadway  west  of  Grant 
avenue,  and  then  around  the  corner  on  Stockton,  and 
you  will  see  strange  signs,  and  perhaps  you  will  not 
know  that  "Fonda"  means  restaurant,  or  that  "Tienda," 
means  a  store.  But  these  are  the  signs  you  will  see,  and 
when  you  go  inside  you  will  hear  nothing  but  the  gentle 
Spanish  of  the  Mexican,  so  toned  down  and  so  changed 
that  some  of  the  Castilians  profess  to  be  unable  to  un- 
derstand it. 

Here  you  will  find  all  the  articles  of  household  use 
that  are  to  be  found  in  the  heart  of  Mexico,  and  that 
have  been  used  for  hundreds  of  years  despite  the  prog- 
ress of  civilization  in  other  countries.  You  will  find  all 
the  strange  foods  and  all  the  inconsequentials  that  go  to 
make  the  sum  of  Mexican  happiness,  and  if  you  can  get 

67 


BOHEMIAN 

sufliciently  close  in  acquaintance  you  will  find  that  not 

only  will  they  talk  freely  to  you,  but  they  will  tell  you 

things  about  Mexico  that  not  even  the 

AROUND         heads  of  the  departments  in  Wash- 
LITTLE  ington  are  aware  of. 

ITAL\  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  know 

something  about  the  bourgeoise 
French,  those  who  have  come  from  the  peasant  district 
of  the  mother  country.  Go  a  little  further  up  Broadway 
and  you  will  begin  to  see  the  signs  changing  from  Span- 
ish to  French,  and  if  you  can  understand  them  you  will 
know  that  here  you  will  be  given  a  dinner  for  twenty- 
five  cents  on  week  days  and  for  thirty-five  cents  on  Sun- 
days. The  difference  is  brought  about  by  the  differ- 
ence between  the  price  of  cheap  beef  or  mutton  and  the 
dearer  chicken. 

Up  in  the  second  story  on  a  large  building  you  may 
see  a  sign  that  tells  you  meals  will  be  served  and  rooms 
provided.  One  of  these  is  the  rendezvous  of  Anarchists, 
who  gather  each  evening  and  discuss  the  affairs  of  the 
world,  and  how  to  regulate  them.  But  they  are  harm- 
less Anarchists  in  San  Francisco,  for  here  they  have  no 
wrongs  to  redress,  so  they  sit  and  drink  their  forbidden 
absinthe,  and  dream  their  dreams  of  fire  and  sword, 
while  they  talk  in  whispers  of  what  they  are  going  to  do 
to  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe.  It  is  their  dream  and 
we  have  no  quarrel  with  it  or  them. 

But  for  real  interest  one  must  get  back  to  the  slope 
of  Telegraph  Hill;  to  the  streets  running  up  from  Co- 
lumbus avenue,  until  they  are  so  steep  that  only  goats 
and  babies  can  play  on  them  with  safety.  At  least  we 
suppose  the  l)nl)ies  are  as  active  as  the  goats  for  the 
sides  of  the  hill  are  alive  with  them. 

Let  us  walk  first  along  drant  avenue  and  do  a  little 
window  shc)j)ping.  Just  before  you  turn  off  Broadway 
into  Grant  avenue,  after  passing  the  Fior  d'ltalia,  the 
Buon  Gusto,  the  Dante  and  II  Trovatorc  restaurants,  we 

68 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

come  to  a  most  interesting  window  where  is  displayed 

such  a  variety  of  sausages  as  to  make  one  wonder  at  the 

inventive  genius  who  thought  of  them 

all.   As  you  wonder  you  peep  timidly  AROUND 

in  the  door  and  then  walk  in  from  LITTLE 

sheer    amazement.      You    now    find  ITALY 

yourself  surrounded  with  sausages, 

from  floor  to  ceiling,  and  from  side  wall  to  side  wall  on 

both  ceiling  and  floor,  and  such  sausage  it  is ! 

From  strings  so  thin  as  to  appear  about  the  size  of 
a  lady's  little  linger,  to  individual  sausages  as  large  as 
the  thigh  of  a  giant,  they  hang  in  festoons,  crawl  over 
beams,  lie  along  shelves,  decorate  counters,  peep  from 
boxes  on  the  floor,  and  invite  you  to  taste  them  in  the 
slices  that  lay  on  the  butcher's  block.  One  can  well 
imagine  being  in  a  cave  of  flesh,  yet  if  you  look  closely 
you  will  discover  that  sausage  is  but  a  part  of  the 
strange  edible  things  to  be  had  here. 

Here  are  cheeses  in  wonderful  variety.  Cheeses  from 
Italy  that  are  made  from  goats'  milk,  asses'  milk,  cows' 
milk  and  mares'  milk,  and  also  cheeses  from  Spain, 
Mexico,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  all  the  other  coun- 
tries where  they  make  cheese,  even  including  the  United 
States.  These  cheeses  are  of  all  sizes  and  all  shapes, 
from  the  great,  round,  flat  cheese  that  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  see  in  country  grocery  stores,  to  the  queer- 
shaped  caciocavallo,  which  looks  like  an  Indian  club 
and  is  eaten  with  fruit. 

There  are  dried  vegetables  and  dried  fruits  such  as 
were  never  dreamed  of  in  your  limited  experience,  and 
even  the  grocer  himself,  the  smiling  and  cosmopolitan 
Verga,  confesses  that  he  does  not  know  the  names  of  all 
of  them. 

As  you  go  out  into  the  street  you  blink  at  the  trans- 
formation, for  you  have  been  thousands  of  miles  away. 
You  think  that  surely  there  can  be  nothing  more.  Wait 
a  bit.    Turn  the  corner  and  walk  along  Grant  avenue 

69 


BOHEMIAN 

toward  the  Hill.     See,  here  is  a  window  full  of  bread. 

Look  closely  at  it  and  you  will  notice  that  it  is  not 

like  the  bread  you  are  accustomed  to. 

AROUND  Count  the  different  kinds.    Fourteen 

LITTLE  of  them  in  all,  from  the  long  sticks 

ITALY  of  grissini  to  the  great  solid  loaves 

weighing  many  pounds.  Light  bread, 
heavy  bread,  good  bread,  soft  bread,  hard  bread,  deli- 
cate bread,  each  having  its  especial  use,  and  all  satisfy- 
ing to  different  appetites. 

Now  go  a  little  further  to  the  corner,  cross  the  street 
and  enter  the  store  of  the  Costa  Brothers.  It  is  a  big 
grocerj"^  store  and  while  you  will  not  find  the  sausage 
and  mystifying  mass  of  food  products  in  such  lavish 
display  and  profuseness,  as  in  the  previous  place,  if  you 
look  around  you  will  find  this  even  more  interesting, 
for  it  is  on  a  difierent  plane.  Here  you  find  the  delica- 
cies and  the  niceties  of  Italian  living.  At  first  glance  it 
looks  as  if  you  were  in  any  one  of  the  American  grocery 
stores  of  down-town,  but  a  closer  examination  reveals 
the  fact  that  these  canned  goods  and  these  boxes  and 
jars,  hold  peculiar  foods  that  you  are  unaccustomed  to. 
Perhaps  you  will  find  a  clerk  who  can  speak  good 
English,  but  if  you  cannot  either  of  the  Costa  brothers 
will  be  glad  to  show  you  the  courtesy  of  answering  your 
questions. 

Turn  around  and  look  at  the  shelves  filled  with  bot- 
tles of  wine.  Now  you  feel  that  you  are  on  safe  ground, 
for  you  know  about  wines  and  can  talk  about  Cresta 
Blanca,  and  Mont  Rouge,  and  Asti  Colony  Tipo  Chianti. 
But  wait  a  minute.  Here  are  labels  that  you  do  not  un- 
derstand and  wines  that  you  never  even  heard  of.  Here 
are  wines  whose  taste  is  so  delicious  that  you  wonder 
why  it  is  the  whole  world  is  not  talking  about  it  and 
drinking  it. 

Here  are  wines  from  the  slopes  of  Aetna,  sparkling 
and  sweet.    Here  are  wines  from  grapes  grown  on  the 

70 


SAN   FRANCISCO 

warm  slopes  of  Vesuvius,  and  brought  to  early  perfec- 
tion by  the  underground  fires.    Here  are  wines  from  the 
colder   slopes    of   mountains;    wines 
from  Parma  and  from  Sicily  and  Pal-        AROUND 
ermo  where  the  warm  Italian  sunshine         LITTLE 
has  been  the  arch-chemist  to  bring  ITALY 

perfection  to  the  fruit  of  the  vine. 
Here  are  still  wines  and  those  that  sparkle.  Here  the 
famed  Lacrima  Christi,  both  spumanti  and  fresco, 
said  to  be  the  finest  wine  made  in  all  Italy,  and  the 
spumanti  have  the  unusual  quality  for  an  Italian  wine 
of  being  dry.  But  to  tell  you  of  all  the  interesting 
articles  to  be  found  in  these  Italian,  and  French  and 
Mexican  stores,  would  be  impossible,  for  some  of  them 
have  not  been  translated  into  English,  and  even  the 
storekeepers  would  be  at  a  loss  for  words  to  explain 
them. 

This  is  all  a  part  of  the  Bohemianism  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  that  is  why  we  are  telling  you  about  it  in  a 
book  that  is  supposed  to  be  devoted  to  the  Bohemian 
restaurants.  The  fact  is  that  San  Francisco's  Bohemian 
restaurants  would  be  far  less  interesting  were  it  not  for 
the  fact  that  they  can  secure  the  delicacies  imported  by 
these  foreign  storekeepers  to  supply  the  wants  of  their 
people. 

But  do  not  think  you  have  exhausted  the  wonders  of 
Little  Italy  when  you  have  left  the  stores,  for  there  is 
still  more  to  see.  If  you  were  ever  in  Palermo  and  went 
into  the  little  side  streets,  you  saw  the  strings  of  maca- 
roni, spaghetti  and  other  pastes  drying  in  the  sun  while 
children  and  dogs  played  through  and  around  it,  giving 
you  such  a  distaste  for  it  that  you  have  not  eaten  any 
Italian  paste  since. 

But  in  San  Francisco  they  do  things  differently. 
There  are  a  number  of  paste  factories,  all  good  and  all 
clean.  Take  that  of  P.  Fiorini,  for  instance,  at  a  point 
a  short  distance  above  Costa  Brothers.  You  cannot  miss 

71 


BOHEMIAN 

it  for  it  has  a  picture  of  Fiorini  himself  as  a  sign,  and  on 

it  he  tells  you  that  if  you  eat  his  paste  you  Avili  get  to  be 

as  fat  as  he  is.     Go  inside  and  you 

AROUND  will  find  that  F'iorini  can  talk  just 
LITTLE  enough  English  to  make  himself  un- 

ITALY  derstood,  while  his  good  wife,  his  sole 

assistant,  can  neither  speak  nor  un- 
derstand any  but  her  native  Italian.  But  that  does  not 
bother  her  in  the  least,  for  she  can  make  signs,  and  you 
can  understand  them  even  better  than  you  understand 
the  English  of  her  husband. 

Here  you  will  see  the  making  of  raviolis  by  the 
hundred  at  a  time.  Tagliarini,  tortilini,  macaroni,  spa- 
ghetti, capellini,  percatelli,  tagliatelli,  and  all  the  sev- 
enty and  two  other  varieties.  The  number  of  kinds  of 
paste  is  most  astonishing,  and  one  wonders  why  there 
are  so  many  kinds  and  what  is  done  with  them.  Fiorini 
will  tell  you  that  each  kind  has  its  distinctive  use. 
Some  are  for  soups,  some  for  sauces,  and  all  for  spec- 
ial edibility.  There  are  hundreds  of  recipes  for  cook- 
ing the  various  pastes  and  each  one  is  said  to  be  a 
little  better  than  the  others,  if  you  can  imagine  such  a 
thing. 

Turn  another  corner  after  leaving  Fiorini's  and  look 
down  into  a  basement.  You  do  not  have  to  go  to  the 
country  to  see  wine  making.  Here  is  one  of  the  prim- 
itive wine  presses  of  Italy,  and  if  you  want  to  know 
why  some  irreverent  people  call  the  red  wine  of  the 
Italians  "Chateau  la  Feet,"  you  have  but  to  watch  the 
process  of  its  making  in  these  Telegraph  Hill  wine 
houses.  The  grapes  are  poured  into  a  big  tub  and  a 
burly  man  takes  off  his  shoes  and  socks  and  emulates 
the  oxen  of  Biblical  times  when  it  treaded  out  the 
grain.  Of  course  he  washes  his  feet  before  he  gets  into 
the  wine  tui).  But,  at  that,  it  is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to 
contemplate.  Now  you  look  around  with  wider  and 
more  comprehensive  eyes,  and  now  you  begin  to  uuder- 

72 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

stand  something  about  these  strange  foreign  quarters  in 
San  Francisco.    As  you  look  around  you  note  another 
thing.    Italian  fecundity  is  apparent 
everywhere,  and  the  farther  up  the  AROUND 

steep  slope  of  the  Hill  you  go  the  LITTLE 

more   children  you   see.     They   are  ITALY 

everywhere,  and  of  all  sizes  and  ages, 
in  such  reckless  profusion  that  you  no  longer  wonder  if 
the  world  is  to  be  depopulated  through  the  coming  of 
the  fad  of  Eugenics.  The  Italian  mother  has  but  two 
thoughts — her  God  and  her  children,  and  it  is  to  care 
for  her  children  that  she  has  brought  from  her  native 
land  the  knowledge  of  cookery,  and  of  those  things  that 
help  to  put  life  and  strength  in  their  bodies. 

An  Italian  girl  said  to  us  one  day: 
"Mama  knows  nothing  but  cooking  and  going  to 
church.    She  cooks  from  daylight  until  dark,  and  stops 
cooking  only  when  she  is  at  church." 

It  was  evident  that  her  domestic  and  religious  duties 
dominated  her  life,  and  she  knew  but  two  things — to 
please  her  God  and  to  care  for  her  family,  and  without 
question  if  occasion  demanded  the  pleasure  of  her  fam- 
ily took  precedence. 

San  Francisco's  Latin  quarter  is  appealing,  enticing 
and  hypnotizing.  Go  there  and  you  will  learn  why  San 
Francisco  is  a  Bohemian  city.  \ou  will  find  out  that  so 
many  things  you  have  thought  important  are  really  not 
at  all  worth  while.  Go  there  and  you  will  lind  the  root 
of  Bohemian  restaurants.  These  people  have  studied 
gastronomy  as  a  science,  and  they  have  imparted  their 
knowledge  to  San  Francisco,  with  the  result  that  the  Bo- 
hemian spirit  enters  into  our  very  lives,  and  our  minds 
are  broadened,  and  our  views  of  life  and  our  ideas  have 
a  wider  scope.  It  is  because  of  this  condition,  born  on 
the  slopes  of  Telegraph  Hill,  that  we  are  drawn  out  of 
depressing  influences,  out  of  the  spirit  of  self-conscious- 
ness, and  lind  a  world  of  pleasure,  innocent  and  educa- 

73 


BOHEMIAN 

tional,  the  inspiration  for  which  has  been  handed  down 

through  generations  of  Latins  since  the  days  of  early 

Roman  empire,  wliich  inspiration  is 

AROUND  still   a    power   for    good    because    it 

LITTLE  takes  people  out  of  themselves  and 

ITALY  places    them    where    they    can    look 

with  understanding  and  speak  the 
language  of  perception.  Little  Italy's  charm  has  long 
been  recognized  by  artists  and  writers,  and  many  of 
them  began  their  careers  which  led  to  fame  and  fortune 
in  little  cheap  rooms  on  Telegraph  Hill.  Here  have 
lived  many  whose  names  are  now  known  to  fame,  and 
to  name  them  would  be  almost  like  a  directory  of  world 
renowned  artists  and  writers.  Here  is  still  the  memory 
of  Bret  Harte  and  Mark  Twain.  Here  is  where  Keith 
had  his  early  studio.  Cadenasso,  Martinez,  and  many 
others  know  these  slopes  and  love  them. 

To  all  these  and  many  more  the  Latin  Quarter  of 
San  Francisco  possessed  a  charm  they  could  find  no- 
where else,  and  if  one  desire  to  bring  a  saddened  look 
to  the  faces  of  many  now  living  elsewhere  it  is  but 
necessary  to  talk  of  the  good  old  days  when  Bohemia 
was  on  Telegraph  Hill  in  San  Francisco.  Here  they  had 
their  domicile,  and  here  they  foregathered  in  the  little 
restaurants,  whose  claims  to  merit  lay  chiefly  in  the 
fact  that  they  were  rarely  visited  by  other  than  the 
Italians  of  the  quarter  and  these  Bohemians  who  lived 
there. 

Here  was  the  inspiration  of  many  a  good  book  and 
many  a  famous  picture  whose  inception  came  from 
thoughts  that  crystallized  amid  these  surroundings,  and 
here  many  a  needy  Bohemian  struggled  through  the 
lean  days  with  the  help  of  these  kind-hearted  Latins. 
Here  they,  even  as  we,  were  taught  something  of  the 
art  of  cooking. 

Of  course,  if  one  desire  to  learn  various  methods  of 
preparing  food,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  both  eyes  open 

7* 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

and  to  ask  many  questions,  seeking  the  information  that 

sometimes  comes  from  unlooked  for  sources.    Even  at 

that  it  is  not  always  a  good  idea  to 

take  everything  for  granted  or  to  ac-        AROUND 

cept  every  suggestion,  for  you  may         LITILE 

meet     with     the     Italian     vegetable  ITALY 

dealer  who  is  so  eager  to  please  his 

customers  that  he  pretends  a  knowledge  he  does  not 

possess.    We  discovered  him  one  day  when  he  had  on 

display  a  vegetable  that  was  strange  to  us. 

"How  do  you  cook  it?"  was  our  question. 

"Fry  it." 
Then  his  partner  shouted  his  laughter  and  derision. 

"Oh,  he's  one  fine  cook.  All  the  time  he  say  'fry  it.' 
One  day  a  lady  she  come  into  da  store  an'  she  see  da 
big  bucket  of  ripe  olives.  Da  lady  she  from  the  East 
and  she  never  see  olives  like  dat  before.  'How  you  cook 
it?'  say  da  lady.  'Fry  it,'  say  my  partner.  Everything 
he  say  fry  it." 

In  another  vegetable  stand  we  found  an  Italian  girl, 
whose  soft  lisping  accent  pronounced  her  a  Genoese, 
and  she  diffidently  suggested  "a  fine  Italian  dessert." 

"You  take  macaroons  and  strawberries.        A  FINE 
Put  a  layer  of  macaroons  in  a  dish  and  then       DESSERT 
a  layer  of  strawberries,  cover  these  with 

sugar,  and  then  another  layer  of  macaroons  and  strawberries 
and  sugar  until  you  have  all  you  want.  Over  these  pour  some 
rum  and  set  fire  to  it.  After  it  is  burned  out  you  have  a  fine 
dessert." 

We  bought  the  macaroons  and  strawberries  on  the 
way  home  and  did  not  even  wait  for  dinner  time  to  try 
it.    We  pronounce  it  good. 

It  was  made  the  right  way  and  we  advise  you  to  try 
it,  for  it  is  simple  and  leaves  a  most  delicious  memory. 


75 


BOHEMIAN 

It  was  very  early  one  morning.     So  early  that  one 

of  us  strenuously  pretended  sleep  while  the  other  gave 

urgent  reminder  that  this  was  the  day 

WHERE  we  were  to  go  to  Fishermen's  Wharf. 

FISH  Daylight  came  early  and  it  was  just 

COME  IN  four  o'clock  when  we  began  prepara- 

tions. A  cup  of  hot  cotiee  while 
dressing  served  to  get  us  wide-awake,  and  we  were  off 
to  see  the  fish  come  in. 

Fishermen's  Wharf  lies  over  at  North  Beach,  at  the 
end  of  Meiggs's  Wharf,  where  the  Customs  Ollicers  have 
their  station,  and  to  reach  it  one  takes  either  the  Powell 
and  North  Beach  cars,  or  the  Kearny  and  North  Beach 
cars,  and  at  the  end  of  either  walks  two  blocks.  When 
you  get  that  far  anybody  you  see  can  tell  you  where 
to  go. 

Fog  mist  was  stealing  along  the  Marin  shore,  and 
hiding  Golden  Gate  when  we  arrived,  and  the  rays  of 
the  sun  took  some  time  to  make  a  clear  path  out  to  sea. 
Out  of  the  bank  of  white  came  gliding  the  heavy  power 
boats  of  the  Sicilian  andCorsican  fishermen,  while  from 
off  shore  were  the  ghostly  lateen  rigged  boats  of  those 
who  had  been  fishing  up  the  Sacramento  and  San 
Joaquin  rivers,  their  yards  aslant  to  catch  the  faint 
morning  breeze.  As  they  slipped  through  the  leaden 
water  to  their  mooring  at  the  wharf  we  could  see  the 
decks  and  holds  piled  with  fish  and  crabs. 

Roosting  on  piles,  and  lining  the  water's  edge  on 
everything  that  served  to  give  foothold,  were  countless 
seagulls,  all  waiting  for  the  breakfast  they  knew  was 
coming  from  the  discarded  fish,  and  fit  companions 
were  the  women  with  shawls  over  their  heads  irrever- 
ently called  mud  hens,  and  old  men  in  dilapidated 
clothing,  who  sat  along  the  stringers  of  the  wharf,  some 
with  baskets,  some  with  buckets  and  others  with  little 
paper  bags,  in  which  to  put  the  fish  which  they  could 
get  so  cheaply  it  meant  a  meal  for  them  when  olher- 

76 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

wise  they  would  have  to  go  without.    The  earlier  boats 
were  moored  and  on  the  decks  fires  were  burning  in 
charcoal  braziers,  on  which  the  fish- 
ermen cooked  their  breakfasts  of  fish  WHERE 
and    coffee,    with    the    hea\y    black  FISH 
loaves  of  bread  for  which  they  seem          COME  IN 
to  have  special  fancy.    As  the  odor  of 
the  cooking  fish  came  up  from  the  water  the  waiting 
gulls  and  men  and  women  moved  a  little  closer. 

Breakfast  over  the  fishermen  turned  to  the  expect- 
ant crowd  and  began  taking  notice  of  the  pitiful  offer- 
ings of  coin.  Tin  buckets,  newspapers,  bags,  rags  and 
even  scooped  hands  were  held  down,  each  containing 
such  coin  as  the  owner  possessed,  and  in  return  came 
bountiful  supply  of  fish.  A  fine,  fat  crab  for  which  your 
market  man  would  charge  you  forty  cents  was  sold  for 
ten.  Beautiful,  fresh  sand-dabs,  but  an  hour  or  two  out 
of  the  water,  were  five  cents  a  pound,  while  sea  bass, 
fresh  cod,  mackerel,  and  similar  fish  went  at  the  same 
price.  Small  fish,  or  white  bait,  went  by  quantity,  ten 
cents  securing  about  half  a  gallon.  Smelt,  herring, 
flounder,  sole,  all  went  at  equally  low  prices,  and  as 
each  buyer  secured  his  allotment  he  went  hurr\dng  off 
through  the  mist,  as  silently  as  the  floating  gulls.  When 
these  were  all  supplied  the  rest  of  the  fish  and  crabs 
were  taken  up  to  the  wharf  and  put  on  the  counters  of 
the  free  market,  where  they  were  sold  at  prices  most 
tempting. 

Shrimps,  alive  and  active,  crayfish,  clams,  squid  and 
similar  sea  food  was  in  profusion  and  sold  at  prices  on  a 
parity  with  that  of  the  fish.  As  the  dny  wore  on  the  early 
buyers  were  replaced  bj^  those  who  knew  of  the  free  fish 
market  and  came  to  get  good  supplies  for  their  money. 
Here  were  boarding-house  keepers,  unmistakable  any- 
where, Bohemians  in  hard  luck  who  remembered  that 
they  could  get  good  food  here  at  a  minimum  of  price, 
and  came  now  while  on  the  down  turn  of  the  wheel. 


BOHEMIAN 

As  a  human  interest  study  it  was  better  than  a  study  of 

fish.      Fishermen's  "Wharf  is  where  the  independent 

fishermen  bring  their  catches  to  San 

WHERE         Francisco,  but   it  is   not  where   the 
FISH  city's  great  supply  comes  in.    To  see 

COME  IN  that  we  had  to  go  along  the  docks 
until  we  came  to  the  Broadway  wharf 
where  Paladini,  the  head  of  the  fish  trust,  unloads  his 
tugs  of  their  tons  and  tons  of  fish.  It  is  not  nearly  so 
interesting  to  look  at,  but  it  gives  a  good  idea  of  what 
comes  out  of  the  sea  every  day  to  supply  the  needs  of 
San  Francisco  and  the  surrounding  countr5\  These 
tugs  bring  in  the  catches  of  dozens  of  smaller  boats 
manned  by  fishermen  who  are  toiling  out  beyond  the 
heads,  and  up  the  two  great  rivers.  From  far  out 
around  the  Farallones,  from  up  around  the  Potato 
Patch  with  its  mournful  fog  bell  constantly  tolling,  from 
down  the  coast  as  far  as  Monterey  Bay  where  fish  are  in 
such  abundance  that  it  is  said  they  have  to  give  a  signal 
when  they  want  to  turn  around,  from  up  the  rivers, 
come  fish  to  the  man  who  has  grown  from  the  owner  of 
a  small  sail  boat  to  be  the  power  who  controls  prices  of 
all  the  fish  that  go  to  the  markets  of  the  city. 

By  the  time  we  finished  with  Paladini's  fish  we  felt 
ready  for  breakfast  and  took  a  car  down  to  Davis  and 
Pacific  street  where  we  found  Bazzuro's  serving  break- 
fast to  dozens  of  market  gardeners  who  had  finished 
their  unloading,  and  there,  while  partaking  of  the  fresh 
fish  we  had  brought  from  Fishermen's  Wharf,  we  saw 
another  phase  of  San  Francisco's  early  morning  life. 
Here  were  gardeners  who  came  in  the  darkness  of  early 
morning  to  supply  hucksters,  small  traders  and  a  few 
thrifty  people  who  knew  of  the  cheapness,  and  in  Co- 
lumbo  market  they  drove  their  great  wagons  and  dis- 
charged their  day's  gathering  of  vegetables  of  all  kinds. 

But  a  few  steps  away  is  the  great  fruit  market  of  the 
early  morning  and  here  tons  of  the  finest  fruits  are  dis- 

78 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

tributed  to  the  hundreds  of  wagons  that  crowd  the 
street  to  such  an  extent  that  it  takes  all  the  ingenuity 
of    experienced    policemen    to    keep 
clearway  for  trafilc.    Threading  their  WHERE 

way  in  and  out  between  the  wheels  FISH 

and  the  heels  of  horses,  were  men  COME  IN 

and  women,  all  looking  for  bargains 
in  food.  Amid  a  din  almost  deafening  business  was 
transacted  with  such  celerity  that  in  three  hours  the 
streets  were  cleared,  fruits  and  vegetables  sold  and  on 
their  w^ay  to  distant  stands,  and  the  tired  policemen 
leaning  gainst  friendly  walls,  recuperating  after  the 
strenuous  work  of  keeping  order  in  chaos. 

It  is  when  one  goes  to  these  places  in  the  morning 
and  sees  the  cheapness  of  these  foods  that  he  can  un- 
derstand in  a  small  way  why  it  is  that  so  many  Italian 
restaurants  can  give  such  good  meals  for  so  little  money. 
One  wonders  at  a  table  d'hote  dinner  of  six  or  seven 
courses  for  twenty-five  cents,  or  even  for  half  a  dollar, 
and  one  accustomed  to  buying  meats,  fish,  vegetables 
and  fruits  at  the  exorbitant  prices  charged  at  most  of 
the  markets  and  fruit  and  vegetable  stands  now  sees 
why  the  thrifty  foreigner  can  make  and  save  money 
while  the  average  American  can  hardly  keep  more  than 
two  jumps  ahead  of  the  sheriff. 


79 


BOHEMIAN 

Probably  the  most  frequent  question  asked  us  by 

those  who  come  to  San  Francisco  is:     "Where  can  we 

,  get  the  best  fish?"    With  San  Fran- 

T^uT^m  Cisco's  wonderful  natural  advantages 

^'-Anrcrxv  ^^   ^   ^^^   market  one   is   sometimes 

vAHlbli  surprised  that  more  attention  is  not 

given  to  preparing  fish  as  a  specialty. 

But  one  restaurant  in  the  city  deals  exclusively  with  sea 

food,  and  even  there  one  is  astonished  at  an  overlooked 

opportunity. 

Darbee  &  Immel  have  catered  to  San  Francisco  in 
ovsters  for  many  years  and  after  the  fire  they  opened 
the  Shell  Fish  Grotto,  in  O'Farrell  street,  between  Powell 
and  Mason  streets,  and  this  is  one  of  the  very  few  dis- 
tinctive fish  restaurants  of  the  countrv.  It  is  when  one 
considers  the  possibilities  that  a  shock  comes  from  the 
environing  decorations.  White  and  gold  pillars,  with 
twining  ivv  renching  to  the  old  gold  and  rose  mural  and 
ceiling  embollishments  seem  out  of  place  in  a  restau- 
rant that  is  devoted  entirely  to  catering  to  lovers  of  fish. 
Nothing  in  the  place  indicates  its  character  except  the 
big  lobster  in  front  of  the  building.  Not  even  so  much 
as  a  picture  to  bring  a  sentiment  of  the  ocean  to  the 
mind. 

We  are  going  to  take  a  liberty,  and  possibly  Darbee 
&  Tmmel  may  call  it  an  impertinence,  and  give  them  a 
bit  of  advice.  It  costs  them  nothing  consequently  they 
can  act  on  it  or  not  and  it  will  make  no  difference.  This 
is  our  suggestion : 

Change  the  interior  of  the  place  entirely  by  having 
aroimd  fbe  walls  a  series  of  large  glass  aquaria,  with  as 
mnnv  different  kinds  of  fish  swimming  about  as  it  is 
possible  to  get;  something  on  the  order  of  the  interior 
of  the  nquarium  in  Pottery  Park  in  New  York.  Paint 
the  ceiling  to  reorescnt  the  surface  of  the  water  as  seen 
from  bolow.  Have  seaweed  and  kelp  in  place  of  ivy, 
and  a  fish  net  or  two  caught  up  in  the  corners  of  the 

80 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

room,  with  here  and  there  a  star  fish  or  a  crab — not  too 
many,  for  profuseness  in  this  sort  of  decoration  is  an 
abomination.    Then  you  will  have  a 
restaurant  that  will  be  talked  about  FISH  IN 

wherever  people  sit  at  meat.    But  to  THEIR 

get  back  to  our  talk  about  fish,  and  VARIETY 

where  to  get  it  prepared  and  cooked 
the  best.  We  must  say  that  the  finest  fish  we  have  eaten 
in  San  Francisco  was  not  in  the  high-priced  restaurants 
at  all,  but  in  a  little,  dingy  back  room,  down  at  Fisher- 
men's Wharf,  where  there  was  sand  on  the  floor  and  all 
the  sounds  of  the  kitchen  were  audible  in  the  dining 
room.  The  place  was  patronized  almost  solely  by  the 
Italian  fishermen  who  not  only  know  how  to  catch  a  fish 
but  how  it  ought  to  be  cooked.  One  may  always  rest  as- 
sured that  when  he  gets  a  fish  in  one  of  the  Italian  res- 
taurants it  is  perfectly  fresh,  for  there  are  two  things 
that  an  Italian  demands  in  eating,  and  they  are  fresh 
fish  and  fresh  vegetables. 

At  the  Gianduja  at  Union  and  Stockton  streets,  one 
is  certain  to  get  fish  cooked  well  and  that  it  is  perfectly 
fresh.  The  variety  is  not  so  good  as  at  the  Shell  Fish 
Grotto,  but  otherwise  it  is  just  as  good  in  every  respect. 
At  the  Grotto  there  is  a  wonderful  variety  but  the  quan- 
tity is  at  the  minimum  because  there,  too,  they  will  have 
no  fish  that  has  been  twenty-four  hours  out  of  the 
water. 

One  wonders  hew  a  full  course  dinner  entirely  of 
fish  can  be  prepared,  but  if  you  will  go  to  the  Shell  Fish 
Grotto  you  will  find  that  it  is  done,  and  done  well  at 
that.  Here  you  can  get  a  good  dinner  for  one  dollar,  or 
if  you  prefer  it  they  have  a  Fish  Dinner  de  Luxe  for 
which  they  charge  two  dollars.  Both  are  good,  the  lat- 
ter having  additional  wines  and  delicacies. 

Down  in  Washington  street,  just  off  Columbus  ave- 
nue, is  the  Vesuvius,  an  Italian  restaurant  of  low  price, 
but  excellent  cooking.    A  specialty  there  is  fish  which 

8i 


BOHEMIAN 

is  always  brought  fresh  from  the  nearby  Clay  street 

market  as  ordered,  consequently  is  perfect.    When  you 

give  your  order  a  messenger  is  dis- 

FISH  IN  patched  to  the  market  and  usually  he 

THEIR  brings  the  fish  alive  and  the  chef  pre- 

VARIETY  pares  it  in  one  of  his  many  ways,  for 

he  is  said  to  have  more  secrets  about 

the  cooking  of  fish  than  one  would  think  it  possible  for 

one  brain  to  contain.    The  trouble  about  this  restaurant 

is  that  the  rest  of  the  menu  does  not  come  up  to  the  fish 

standard,  but  if  you  desire  a  simple  luncheon  of  fish 

there  is  no  better  place  to  get  it. 

There  are  three  things  in  which  an  Easterner  will  be 
disappointed  in  San  Francisco,  and  these  are  oysters. 
Pacific  Coast  oysters  fail  in  size,  flavor  and  cooking, 
when  compared  with  the  luscious  bivalve  of  the  At- 
lantic, so  far  as  the  ordinary  forms  of  preparation  is 
concerned.  Even  fancy  dishes,  such  as  Oysters  Kirk- 
patrick,  would  be  better  if  made  of  the  eastern  03'ster, 
not  what  they  call  the  eastern  oyster  here,  for  that  is  a 
misnomer,  but  the  oysters  that  grow  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Of  the  Pacific  oysters  the  best  is  the  Toke  Point,  that 
comes  from  Oregon.  They  are  similar  in  size  to  the 
Blue  Point,  but  lack  the  flavor.  "When,  in  a  San  Fran- 
cisco restaurant,  you  are  asked  what  sort  of  oyster  you 
will  have,  and  you  see  the  familiar  names  on  the  menu 
card,  remember  that  these  are  transplanted  oysters,  and 
have  lost  much  of  their  flavor  in  the  transplanting,  or 
else  they  are  oysters  that  have  been  shipped  across  the 
continent  and  have  thereby  lost  their  freshness. 

The  California  oyster  proper,  is  very  small,  and  it 
has  a  peculiar  coppery  taste,  which  bon  vivants  declare 
adds  to  its  piquancy.  Instead  of  ordering  these  by  the 
dozen  you  order  them  by  the  hundred,  it  being  no  difll- 
cult  task  to  cat  an  hundred  at  a  meal,  especially  when 
prepared  in  a  pepper  roast. 

82 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Everyone    knows    the    staple   ways    of    preparing 
oysters,  and  every  chef  looks  upon  the  oyster  as  the 
source  of  new  flavors  in  many  dishes, 
but  to  our  mind  the  best  way  we  have  i"  Ibii  lA 

found  in  San  Francisco  was  at  a  little  THEIR 

restaurant  down  in  Washington  street  VARIETY 
before  the  fire.  It  was  the  Buon  Gusto, 
where  they  served  fish  and  oysters  better  than  anything 
else  because  the  owners  were  the  chefs,  and  they  were 
from  the  island  of  Catalan,  off  the  coast  of  Italy.  Their 
specialty  was  called  "Oysters  a  la  Catalan,"  and  their 
recipe,  which  is  given,  can  be  prepared  excellently  in 
a  chafing  dish: 

Take  one  tablespoonful  of  butter,  two     OYSTERS  A  LA 
teaspoonfuls    grated    Edam    or    Parmesan  CATALAN 

cheese,  four  tablespoonfuls  catsup,  one- 
half  teaspoonful  Worcestershire  sauce,  two  tablespoonfuls 
cream,  meat  of  one  good-sized  crab  cut  fine  and  two  dozen 
oysters.  Put  the  cheese  and  butter  into  a  double  boiler  and 
when  melted  smooth  add  the  catsup  and  Worcestershire  sauce. 
Mix  well  and  add  the  cream  and  then  the  crab  meat.  When 
creamy  and  boiling  hot  drop  in  the  oysters.  As  soon  as  the 
oysters  are  crinkled  serve  on  hot  buttered  toast  on  hot  plates. 

In  the  days  before  the  fire  when  you  went  to  a  res- 
taurant and  ordered  fish  or  oysters  the  waiter  invari- 
ably put  before  you  either  a  plate  of  crab  salad  or  a 
dish  of  shrimps,  with  which  you  were  supposed  to 
amuse  yourself  while  the  meal  was  being  prepared. 
Shrimps  and  crabs  were  then  so  plentiful  that  their 
price  was  never  considered.  Under  our  new  conditions 
these  always  appear  on  the  bill  when  ordered,  and  if 
they  be  not  ordered  they  do  not  appear  for  they  now 
are  made  to  increase  the  income. 

To  the  uninitated  visitor  the  shrimps  so  served  were 
always  something  of  a  mystery,  and  after  a  few  futile 
efforts  to  get  at  the  meat  they  generally  gave  it  up  as  too 
much  work  for  the  little  good  derived.  The  Old  Timer, 
hov/ever,  cracked  the  shrimp's  neck,  pinched  its  tail, 

83 


BOHEMIAN 

and  out  popped  a  delicious  bonne  bouche  which  added 
to  tlie  jo}^  of  the  meal  and  increased  the  appetite.    But 

there  are  many  other  ways  of  serv- 

tLsii  i.\  ing  shrimps,  and  they  are  also  much 

IHEIR  used   to   give   flavor  to   certain   fish 

VARIETY        sauces.     One  of  the  most  delicious 

ways  of  preparing  shrimp  is  what  is 
known  as  "Shrimp  Creole,  a  la  Antoine,"  so  named 
after  the  famous  New  Orleans  Antoine  by  a  chef  in  San 
Francisco  who  had  regard  for  the  New  Orleans  caterer. 
We  doubt  if  it  can  be  had  anywhere  in  San  Francisco 
now  unless  you  are  well  enough  known  to  have  it  pre- 
pared according  to  the  recipe.  This  recipe,  by  the  way, 
is  a  good  one  to  use  in  a  chafing  dish  supper.  This  is 
the  way  it  was  prepared  at  the  old  Pup  restaurant,  one 
of  the  noted  restaurants  before  the  fire  and  earthquake 
changed  conditions: 

SHRIMP  Take  three  pints  of  unshelled  shrimps 
CREOLE  and  shell  them,  one-half  pint  of  cream, 
two  tablespoonfuls  of  butter,  two  table- 
spoonfuls  of  flour,  two  tablespoonfuls  of  catsup,  one  wine  glass 
of  sherry,  paprika,  chili  powder  and  parsley.  Brown  the  flour 
in  the  butter  and  add  the  milk  until  it  is  thickened.  Color  with 
the  catsup  and  season  with  paprika  and  chili  powder.  Stir  in 
the  sherry  and  make  a  pink  cream  which  is  to  be  mixed  through 
the  shrimps  and  not  cooked.  Sprinkle  with  chopped  parsley 
and  serve  with  squares  of  toast  or  crackers. 


84 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

When  is  a  lobster  not  a  lobster?    When  it  is  a  cray- 
fish.   This  question  and  answer  might  well  go  into  the 
primer  of  information  for  those  who 
come  to  San  Francisco  from  the  East,       LOBSTERS 
for  what  is  called  a  lobster  in  San  AND 

Francisco  is  not  a  lobster  at  all  but  LOBSTERS 
a  crayfish.  The  true  lobster  is  not 
found  in  the  Pacific  along  the  California  coast,  and  so 
far  efforts  at  transplanting  have  not  been  successful. 
The  Pacific  crayfish,  however,  serves  every  purpose,  and 
while  many  contend  that  its  meat  is  not  so  delicate  in 
flavor  as  that  of  its  eastern  cousin,  the  Calif ornian  will 
as  strenuousl}'^  insist  that  it  is  better,  but,  of  course, 
something  must  always  be  allowed  for  the  patriotism  of 
the  Californian. 

Lobster,  served  cold  with  mayonnaise,  or  broiled 
live  lobster  are  most  frequently  called  for,  and  while 
they  are  both  excellent,  we  find  so  many  other  ways  of 
preparing  this  crustacean  that  we  rarely  take  the  com- 
mon variety  of  lobster  dishes  into  consideration.  Prob- 
ably nowhere  in  San  Francisco  could  one  get  lobster 
better  served  than  in  the  Old  Delmonico  restaurant  of 
the  days  before  the  fire.  A  book  could  be  written  about 
this  restaurant  and  then  all  would  not  be  told  for  all  its 
secrets  can  never  be  known. 

In  New  York  City  they  have  what  they  are  pleased 
to  call  "Lobster  Palaces,"  but  there  is  not  a  restaurant 
in  that  great  metropolis  that  could  approach  the  Del- 
monico of  San  Francisco  in  its  splendid  service  and  its 
cuisine  arrangements;  neither  could  they  approach  the 
romance  that  always  surrounded  the  O'Farrell  street 
restaurant.  It  was  here  that  most  magnificent  dinners 
were  arranged;  it  was  here  that  extraordinary  dishes 
were  concocted  by  chefs  of  world-wide  fame;  it  was 
here  that  Lobster  a  la  Newberg  reached  its  highest  per- 
fection, and  this  is  the  recipe  that  was  followed  when  it 
was  prepared  in  the  Delmonico : 

85 


BOHEMIAN 

One  pound  of  lobster  meat,  one  teaspoonful  of  butter,  one- 
half  pint  of  creaiu,  yolks  of  four  eggs,  one  wine  glass  of  sherry, 
lobster  fat.     Three  hours  before  cooking 
LOBSTER         pour  the  sherry  over  the  lobster  meat  and 
A  LA  let  it  stand  until  ready  to  cook.     Heat  the 

NE^VHERCl  butter  and  stir  in  with  the  lobster  and 
wine,  then  place  this  in  a  stewpan,  or  chaf- 
ing dish,  and  cook  for  eight  minutes.  Have  the  yolks  of  eggs 
well  beaten  and  add  to  them  the  cream  and  lobster  fat,  stir  well 
and  then  stir  in  a  teaspoonful  of  flour.  Put  this  in  a  double 
boiler  and  let  cook  until  thick,  stirring  constantly.  When  this 
is  cooked  pour  it  over  the  lobster  and  let  all  cook  together  for 
three  minutes.  Serve  in  a  chafing  dish  with  thin  slices  of  dry 
toast. 


86 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

One  has  to  come  to  San  Francisco  to  partake  of  the 
king  of  shell  fish — the  mammoth  Pacific  crab.     I  say 
"come  to  San  Francisco"  advisedly, 
for  while  the  crab  is  found  all  along  KING  OF 

the  coast  it  is  prepared  nowhere  so  SHELL 

deliciously  as  in  San  Francisco.     Of  FISH 

course  our  friends  in  Portland  will 
take  exception  to  this,  but  the  fact  remains  that  no- 
where except  in  San  Francisco  have  so  many  restau- 
rants become  famous  because  of  the  way  they  prepare 
the  crab.  The  Pacific  crab  is  peculiar,  and  while  it  has 
not  the  gigantic  claws  such  as  are  to  be  seen  on  those 
in  the  Parisian  and  London  markets,  its  meat  is  much 
more  delicate  in  flavor,  and  the  dishes  of  crab  prepared 
by  artists  of  the  gastronomic  profession  in  San  Fran- 
cisco are  more  savory  than  those  found  elsewhere. 

In  the  pre-fire  days  there  were  many  places  which 
paid  especial  attention  to  the  cooking  of  the  crab, 
among  them  being  the  Cobweb  Palace,  previously  men- 
tioned, and  Gobey's.  Gobey  ran  one  of  those  places 
which  was  not  in  good  repute,  consequently  when  ladies 
went  there  they  were  usually  veiled  and  slipped  in 
through  an  alley,  but  the  enticement  of  Gobey's  crab 
stew  was  too  much  for  conventionality  and  his  little 
private  rooms  were  always  full. 

Gobey's  passed  with  the  fire,  and  the  little  restau- 
rant bearing  his  name,  and  in  charge  of  his  widow,  in 
Union  Square  avenue,  has  not  attained  the  fame  of  the 
old  place.  It  is  possible  that  she  knows  the  secret  of 
preparing  crab  as  it  was  prepared  in  the  Gobey's  of  be- 
fore the  fire,  but  his  prestige  did  not  descend  to  her. 

Almost  all  of  the  Italian  restaurants  will  give  you 
crab  in  many  forms,  and  all  of  them  are  good;  many 
restaurants  use  crab  meat  for  flavoring  other  dishes, 
but  of  all  the  recipes  for  cooking  crab  we  have  found 
none  that  we  consider  so  good  as  that  of  Gobey's.  It  is 
as  follows: 

87 


BOHEMIAN 

Take  the  meat  of  one  large  crab,  scraping  out  all  of  the  fat 
from  the  shell.     One  good-sized  onion,  one  tomato,  one  sweet 
pepper,  one  teaspoonful  of  butter,  one  tea- 
GOBEY'S  spoonful  of  flour,  half  a  glass  of  sherry,  a 

CRAB  pinch   of   rosemary,   one   clove   of   garlic, 

STFW  paprika,  salt  and  minionette  pepper.   Soak 

the  crab  meat  in  the  sherry  two  hours  be- 
fore cooking.  Chop  fine  the  onion,  sweet  pepper  and  tomato 
with  the  rosemary.  Mash  the  clove  of  garlic,  rubbing  thor- 
oughly in  a  mortar  and  on  this  put  the  butler  and  flour,  mixing 
well  together,  and  gradually  adding  the  salt  and  minionette 
pepper,  and  stir  in  two  tablespoonfuls  of  cream.  Heat  this  in  a 
stewpan  and  when  simmering  add  the  sherry  and  crab  meat 
and  let  all  cook  together  with  a  slow  fire  for  eight  minutes, 
serve  in  a  chafing  dish  with  toasted  crackers  or  thin  slices  of 
toasted  bread.  A  dash  of  Worcestershire  sauce  just  before  it  is 
taken  up  adds  to  the  flavor. 


88 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Crawfish,  or  ecravisse,  has  never  been  very  popular 
in  San  Francisco,  probably  because  there  are  so  many 
other   delicate   crustaceans  that  are 
more  easily  handled,  yet  the  crawfish         LOBSTER 
grows  to  perfection  in  Pacific  waters,  IN 

and  importations  of  them  from  Port-  MINIATURE 
land,  Oregon,  are  becoming  quite  an 
industry.  So  far  it  has  been  used  mostly  for  garnish- 
ment of  other  dishes,  and  it  is  only  recently  that  the 
Hof  Brau  has  been  making  a  specialty  of  them.  All  of 
the  better  class  restaurants,  however,  will  serve  them  if 
you  order  them. 

The  full  flavor  of  the  crawfish  is  best  obtained  in  a 
bisque,  and  the  best  recipe  for  this  is  by  the  famous  chef 
Francatelli,  who  boasts  having  been  the  head  of  the 
cuisine  of  Queen  Victoria.  His  recipe  is  long,  and  its 
preparation  requires  much  patience,  but  the  result  is 
such  a  gastronomic  marvel  that  one  never  regrets  the 
time  spent  in  its  accomplishment.  This  is  the  recipe  for 
eight  people,  and  it  is  well  worth  trying  if  you  are  giv- 
ing a  dinner  of  importance: 

Take  thirty  crawfish,  from  which  re-        BISQUE 
move  the  gut  containing  the  gall  in  the  fol-  OF 

lowing  manner:     Take  firm  hold  of  the     CRAWFISH 
crawfish  with  the  left  hand  so  as  to  avoid 

being  pinched  by  its  claws;  with  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of 
the  right  hand  pinch  the  extreme  end  of  the  central  fin  of  the 
tail,  and,  with  a  sudden  jerk,  the  gut  will  be  withdrawn. 

Mince  or  cut  into  small  dice  a  carrot,  an  onion,  one  head 
of  celery  and  a  few  parsley  roots,  and  to  these  add  a  bay  leaf,  a 
sprig  of  thyme,  a  little  minionette  pepper  and  two  ounces  of 
butter.  Put  these  ingredients  into  a  stewpan  and  fry  them  ten 
minutes,  then  throw  in  the  crawfish  and  pour  on  them  half  a 
bottle  of  French  white  wine.  Allow  this  to  boil  and  then  add  a 
quart  of  strong  consomme  and  let  all  continue  boiling  for  half 
an  hour.  Pick  out  the  crawfish  and  strain  the  broth  through  a 
napkin  by  pressure  into  a  basin  in  order  to  extract  all  the  es- 
sence from  the  vegetables. 

Pick  the  shells  off  twenty-five  of  the  crawfish  tails,  trim 
them  neatly  and  set  them  aside  until  wanted.    Reserve  some  of 

89 


BOHEMIAN 

the  spawn,  also  half  of  the  body  shells  with  which  to  make  the 
crawlish  butler  to  flnish  the  soup.  This  butter  is  made  as  fol- 
lows: Place  the  shells  on  a  baking  sheet 
BISQUE  in  the  oven  to  dry;  let  the  shells  cool  and 

OF  then  pound  them  in  a  mortar  with  a  little 

CRA>VFISH  lobster  coral  and  four  ounces  of  fresh 
butter,  thoroughly  bruising  the  whole  to- 
gether so  as  to  make  a  fine  paste.  Put  this  in  a  stcwpan  and  set 
it  over  a  slow  fire  to  simmer  for  about  five  minutes,  then  rub 
it  through  a  sieve  with  considerable  pressure  into  a  basin  con- 
taining ice  water.  As  soon  as  the  colored  crawfish  butter  is  be- 
come firmly  set,  through  the  coldness  of  the  water,  take  it  out 
and  put  it  into  a  small  basin  and  set  in  the  refrigerator  until 
wanted. 

Reverting  to  the  original  recipe:  Take  the  remainder  of 
the  crawfish  and  add  thereto  three  anchovies,  washed  for  the 
purpose,  and  also  the  crusts  of  French  rolls,  fried  to  a  light 
brown  color  in  butter.  Pound  all  these  thoroughly  together  and 
then  put  them  into  a  stewpan  with  the  broth  that  has  been  re- 
served in  a  basin,  and  having  warmed  the  bisque  thus  prepared 
rub  it  through  a  sieve  into  a  fine  puree.  Put  this  puree  into  a 
soup  pot  and  finish  by  incorporating  therewith  the  crawfish 
butter  and  season  with  a  little  cayenne  pepper  and  the  juice  of 
half  a  lemon.  Pour  the  bisque  quite  hot  into  the  tureen  in 
which  have  been  placed  the  crawfish  tails,  and  send  to  the 
table. 

This  is  not  so  difficult  as  it  appears  when  you  are 
reading  it  and  if  you  wish  to  have  something  extra  fine 
take  the  necessary  time  and  patience  and  prepare  it. 


90 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

We  cannot  dispose  of  the  shell  fish  of  San  Francisco 
without  a  word  or  two  about  clams,  for  certainly  there 
is  no  place  where  they  are  in  greater 
variety  and  better  flavor.    In  fact  the  CLAMS 

clam  is  the  only  bivalve  of  this  part  AND 

of  the  coast  that  has  a  distinctive  and  ABALONES 
good  flavor.  Several  varieties  are  to 
be  found  in  the  markets,  the  best  and  rarest  being  the 
little  rock  clams  that  come  from  around  Drake's  Bay, 
just  above  the  entrance  to  Golden  Gate.  These  are  most 
delicious  in  flavor  and  should  never  be  eaten  otherwise 
than  raw.  The  sand,  or  hard  shell,  or  as  they  are  some- 
times called  little  necks,  are  next  in  choiceness,  and 
then  come  the  Pismo  beach  clams,  noted  for  their  flavor 
and  enormous  size.  The  mud  clam  is  good  for  chowder 
but  not  so  good  as  either  of  the  other  varieties  men- 
tioned. 

The  Bohemian  way  to  have  your  clams  is  to  go  to 
the  shore  of  Bolinas  Bay  or  some  other  equally  retired 
spot,  and  have  a  clam  bake,  or  else  take  a  pot  along 
with  the  other  ingredients  and  have  a  good  clam  chow- 
der. This,  however,  may  be  prepared  at  any  time  and 
is  always  a  good  meal. 

Clam  fritters  when  prepared  according  to  the  recipe 
given  herein,  is  one  of  the  best  methods  of  preparing 
the  clam,  and  it  has  the  peculiarity  of  being  so  tasty 
that  one  feels  that  there  is  never  enough  cooked. 

Of  all  the  ways  of  cooking  clams  chowder  takes 
precedence  as  a  rule,  and  it  is  good  when  made  prop- 
erly. By  that  we  do  not  mean  the  thin,  watery  stuff  that 
is  served  in  most  of  the  restaurants  and  called  clam 
chowder  just  because  it  happens  to  be  made  every  Fri- 
day. That  is  fairly  good  as  a  clam  soup  but  it  is  no 
more  chowder  than  a  Mexican  soup  approaches  a  craw- 
fish bisque.  There  is  but  one  right  way  to  make  clam 
chowder,  and  that  is  either  to  make  it  yourself  or  closely 
superintend  the  making,  and  this  is  the  way  to  make  it : 

91 


BOHEMIAN 

Take  one  quart  of  shelled  sand  clams,  two  large  potatoes, 
two  large  onions,  one  clove  of  garlic,  one  sweet  pepper,  one  thick 

slice  of  salt  pork,  one-half  pound  small 

CLAM  oyster  crackers,  one-half  glass  sherry,  one 

CHOWDER       tablespoonful    \Vorcestershire    sauce,    one 

tomato,  salt,  and  pepper.  In  a  large  stew- 
pan  place  the  salt  pork  cut  into  small  dice,  and  let  this  fry 
slightly  over  a  slow  fire  until  the  bottom  of  the  stewpan  is  well 
greased.  Take  this  off  the  fire  and  put  in  a  layer  of  potatoes 
sliced  thin,  on  top  of  the  salt  pork,  then  a  layer  of  onions  sliced 
thin,  and  a  layer  of  clams.  Put  on  this  salt  and  pepper  and 
sprinkle  with  a  little  flour  and  then  a  layer  of  crackers.  Chop 
the  sweet  pepper  and  tomato  fine  and  mix  with  them  the 
bruised  and  mashed  garlic.  On  top  of  each  succession  of  layers 
put  a  little  of  the  mixture.  Continue  making  these  layers  until 
all  the  ingredients  are  placed  in  the  stewpan,  and  then  pour  on 
the  top  sufficient  water  to  just  show.  Cover  tightly  and  let  cook 
gently  for  half  an  hour.  Pour  on  the  Worcestershire  sauce  and 
sherry  just  before  serving.  Do  not  stir  this  while  cooking,  and 
in  order  to  prevent  its  burning  it  should  be  cooked  over  an 
asbestos  cover. 

When  done  this  should  be  thick  enough  to  be  eaten  with 
a  fork. 

Among  the  good  Bohemians  who  lived  in  San  Fran- 
cisco as  a  child  when  it  was  in  the  post-pioneer  days, 
and  who  has  enjoyed  the  good  things  of  all  the  famous 
restaurants  is  Mrs.  Emma  Sterett,  who  has  given  us  the 
following  recipe  for  clam  fritters  which  we  consider  the 
most  delicious  of  all  we  have  ever  eaten,  and  when  you 
try  them  you  will  agree  with  us: 

J  J  ^-^1  Take  two  dozen  clams,  washed  thoroughly 

FRITTERS  ^"^  drained.     Put  in  chopping  bowl  and 

chop,  not  too  fine.  Add  to  tliese  one  clove 
of  garlic  mashed,  one  medium-sized  onion  chopped  fine,  add 
bread  crumbs  sufficient  to  stiffen  the  mass,  chopped  parsley, 
celery  and  herbs  to  taste.  Beat  two  eggs  separately  and  add  to 
the  clams.  If  too  stiff  to  drop  from  a  spoon  add  the  strained 
liquor  of  clams.  Drop  tablespoonfuls  of  this  mixture  into  hot 
fat,  turn  and  cook  for  sufficient  time  to  cook  through,  then 
drain  on  brown  paper  and  serve. 

Ahaloncs  are  a  univalve  that  has  hecn  much  in 
vogue  among  the  Chinese  but  has  seldom  found  place 

92 


k 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

on  the  tables  of  restaurants  owing  to  the  difficulty  in 
preparing  them,  as  they  are  tough  and  insipid  under 
ordinary  circumstances.  When  made 
tender  either  by  the  Chinese  method  CLAMS 

of  pounding,  or  by  steeping  in  vine-  AND 

gar,  they  serve  the  purpose  of  clams  ABALONES 

but  have  not  the  fine  flavor.    The  Hof 
Brau  restaurant  is  now  making  a  specialty  of  abalones, 
but  it  takes  sentiment  to  say  that  one  really  finds  any- 
thing extra  good  in  them. 

Another  shell  fish  much  in  vogue  among  the  Italian 
restaurants  is  mussels,  which  are  found  to  perfection 
along  the  coast.  These  are  usually  served  Bordelaise, 
and  make  quite  a  pleasant  change  when  one  is  sur- 
feited with  other  shell  fish,  but  the  best  recipe  is : 

Thoroughly    clean    the    mussels    and  MUSSELS 

then  put  them  in  a  deep  pan  and  pour  over  MARINIERE 

them  half  a  glass  of  white  wine.  Chop  an 
onion,  a  clove  of  garlic  and  some  parsley  fine  and  put  in  the 
pan,  together  with  a  tablespoonful  of  butter.  Let  these  boil 
very  quick  for  twelve  minutes,  keeping  the  pan  tightly  covered. 
Take  oflf  half  shells  and  place  the  mussels  in  a  chafing  dish  and 
pour  over  them  Bechamel  sauce  and  then  add  sufficient  milk 
gravy  to  cover.    Serve  hot  from  chafing  dish. 


93 


BOHEMIAN 

According  to   David   Starr  Jordan,   acknowledged 

world  authority  on  fish,  there  is  greater  variety  of  fish 

in  Monterey  Bay  than  anywhere  else 

WHERE  in  the  world.     Monterey  Bay  is  one 

FISH  of  San  Francisco's  sources  of  supply 

ABOUND  consequently  we  have  a  greater  vari- 

ety of  fish  in  our  markets  than  are  to 
be  found  anvAvhere  else.  In  the  markets  are  fish  from 
all  parts  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  the  Tropics  to  far 
north  in  the  Arctics,  while  denizens  of  the  waters  all  the 
way  between  add  to  the  variety. 

The  essential  element  of  goodness  in  fish  is  fresh- 
ness, and  it  is  always  fresh  in  San  Francisco  markets, 
and  also  in  the  restaurants.  Of  all  varieties  two  rank 
first  in  the  estimation  of  gourmets,  but,  of  course,  that 
is  purely  a  matter  of  individual  taste.  According  to  the 
above-mentioned  authority,  "the  finest  fish  that  swims 
is  the  sand-dab."  Some  gourmets,  however,  will  take 
issue  with  him  on  this  and  say  the  pompano  is  bet- 
ter. Others  will  prefer  the  mountain  trout.  Be  that  as 
it  may  they  all  are  good,  with  many  others  following 
close  in  choice. 

Fine  striped  bass  from  the  ocean,  or  black  bass  from 
the  fresh  water  takes  high  place  in  preference.  Then 
there  is  sole,  both  in  the  fillet  and  Rex,  as  prepared  at 
Jule's  under  the  Monadnock  building.  Tom  cod,  rock 
cod,  fresh  mackerel  and  fresh  cod,  white  bait  and  boned 
smelt  all  are  excellent  fish,  but  were  we  to  attempt  to 
tell  of  all  the  fish  to  be  found  here  we  would  have  to 
reproduce  a  piscatorial  directory.  There  are  two  good 
methods  of  acquiring  knowledge  of  the  fish  of  San 
Francisco.  Go  to  the  wharves  and  see  them  come  and 
and  go  to  the  wholesale  markets  down  in  Clay  street, 
below  Montgomery.  You  will  then  begin  to  realize  that 
we  certainly  do  have  a  variety  of  good  fish. 

Now  for  a  little  Bohemianism  of  a  different  sort: 
Recently  there  came  to  San  Francisco,  with  his  wtfe,  an 

9/f 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

actor  whose  name  used  to  be  almost  a  household  word 
among  theater- goers,  and  when  we  say  "the  villain  still 
pursued  her,"  all  you  oldtimers  will 
know  whom  we  mean.    When  he  was         vviii^uE 
here  in  the  years  long  gone  by  it  was  FISH 

his  custom  to  go  to  the  old  California        ABOUND 
market,  select  what  he  desired  to  eat, 
then  take  it  to  the  restaurant  and  have  it  cooked,  and 
the  old  atmosphere  came  back  to  him  on  his  recent  ar- 
rival and  he  revived  the  old  custom. 

"Meet  us  at  the  California  market,"  was  the  tele- 
phone message  that  came  to  us,  and  we  were  there,  for 
we  knew  that  something  good  was  in  store  for  us. 

First  we  went  through  the  market  from  end  to  end 
and  all  the  side  aisles,  "spying  out  the  land."  It  is  not 
possible  to  enumerate  what  we  saw.  If  you  want  to 
know  go  there  and  see  for  yourselves.  Having  seen  we 
were  told  to  go  and  select  what  we  wished  to  have  for 
our  dinner,  and  then  the  selection  began  and  there  was 
a  feast  of  buying  fish,  meats,  vegetables  and  delicacies 
of  all  sorts,  even  to  French  pastry. 

Our  purchases  were  ordered  sent  to  the  restaurant 
in  the  corner  of  the  market  where  the  chef  had  already 
been  duly  "seen,"  and  then  came  each  particular  idea 
as  to  how  the  food  was  to  be  cooked.  We  had  sand- 
dabs  munier,  Chateaubriand  with  mushrooms,  Italian 
squash,  fried  in  oil  with  a  flavor  of  garlic,  French  pastry, 
and  coffee,  together  with  some  good  California  Tipo 
Chianti,  all  flavored  with  such  a  stream  of  reminiscence 
that  we  forgot  that  such  things  as  clocks  existed. 

It  was  the  first  time  our  theatrical  friends  had  tasted 
sand-dabs,  for  this  fish  has  come  to  San  Francisco  mar- 
kets only  in  recent  years,  and  they  declared  that  it  was 
the  "only"  fish  fit  to  be  eaten.  It  is  possible  that  they 
were  prejudiced  by  the  sentiment  of  the  surroundings 
and  consequently  not  exactly  in  position  to  be  good 
judges. 

95 


BOHEMIAN 

All  Italian  restaurants  serve  fish  well.    At  the  New 
Buon  Gusto  you  will  find  a  most  excellent  cippino  with 
polenti,  and  if  you  have  not  experi- 
WHERE         enced  this  we  advise  you  to  try  it  as 
FISH  soon  as  possible.  At  the  Gianduja  you 

ABOUND  will  find  sand-dabs  au  gratin  to  be 
very  fine.  At  Jack's,  striped  bass 
cooked  in  wine  is  what  we  think  the  best  of  the  fish  to 
be  found  in  the  market,  or  at  the  restaurants,  cooked 
that  way.  Jule's  is  famous  for  his  Rex  sole.  At  all  of 
the  French  and  Italian  restaurants  small  fry  is  cooked 
to  perfection.  If  you  wish  fish  in  any  way  or  of  any 
kind  you  will  make  no  mistake  in  asking  for  it  at  any 
of  the  French  or  Italian  restaurants,  or  at  the  Shell  Fish 
Grotto,  and  if  you  are  in  doubt  regarding  what  to  order 
just  take  the  proprietor  into  your  confidence,  tell  him 
you  are  a  stranger  in  the  city  and  ask  him  to  serve  you 
fish  the  best  way  he  prepares  it.  You  will  not  be  disap- 
pointed. 


96 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Variants  of  food  preparation  sometimes  typify  na- 
tionalities better  even   than   variants   of  language   or 
clothing.    Take  the  lowly  corn  meal, 
for  instance.     We  find   that  Italian  SOME 

polenti,  Spanish  tamale,  Philadelphia  FOOD 

scrapple  and  Southern  Darkey  crack-  VARIANTS 
ling  corn  bread  are  but  variants  of 
the  preparation  of  corn  meal  in  delectable  foods.  It  is 
a  long  step  from  plain  corn  meal  mush  to  scrapple, 
which  we  consider  the  highest  and  best  form  of  prepar- 
ing this  sort  of  dish,  but  all  the  intermediate  steps  come 
from  a  desire  to  please  the  taste  with  a  change  from 
simple  corn  meal.  Crackling  corn  bread  is  the  first 
step,  and  here  we  find  that  the  darkies  of  the  South 
found  good  use  for  the  remnants  of  the  pork  after  lard 
was  tried  out  at  hog-killing  time,  by  mixing  the  crack- 
lings with  their  corn  meal  and  making  a  pone  which 
they  cooked  before  an  open  fire  on  a  hoe  blade,  the 
first  of  this  being  called  "cracklin'  hoe  cake." 

Good  scrapple  is  one  of  the  finest  breakfast  dishes 
that  we  know  during  the  winter,  and  when  prepared 
after  the  recipe  given  here  it  precedes  all  other  forms  of 
serving  corn  meal.  To  mix  it  properly  one  must  know 
the  proper  values  of  herbs  and  condiments,  and  this 
recipe  is  the  result  of  much  discriminating  study.  Mod- 
esty prevents  us  giving  it  more  than  the  name  of 
"scrapple."  It  is  prepared  in  the  following  manner,  dif- 
fering from  that  made  in  Philadelphia: 

Take  a  young  pig's  head  and  boil  it  un-  SCRAPPLE 

til  the  flesh  drops  from  the  bones,  in  water 

to  which  has  been  added  two  good-sized  onions,  quartered,  five 
bruised  cloves  of  garlic,  one  bay  leaf,  sweet  marjoram,  thyme, 
rosemary,  a  little  sage,  salt,  and  pepper.  Separate  the  meat 
from  the  bones  and  chop  fine.  Strain  off  the  liquor  and  boil 
with  corn  meal,  adding  the  chopped  meat.  Put  in  the  corn 
meal  gradually,  until  it  makes  a  stiifT  mush,  then  cook  for  half 
an  hour  with  the  meat.  Put  in  shallow  pans  and  let  cool.  To 
serve  slice  about  half  an  inch  thick  and  fry  in  olive  oil  or  but- 
ter to  a  light  brown. 

91 


BOHEMIAN 

As  originally  prepared  the  tamale  was  made  for 
conveyance,  hence  the  wrappings  of  corn  husk.     This 
is  a  Spanish  dish,  having  been  brought 
SOML  ^Q  ^j^jg  country  by  the  early  Spanish 

rOOU  explorers,  and  adopted  by  the  Indian 

VARIANTS  tribes  with  whom  they  came  in  con- 
tact. In  the  genuine  tamale  the  in- 
terior is  the  sauce  and  meat  that  goes  with  the  corn 
meal  which  is  alternately  laid  with  the  husks,  and  when 
made  the  ends  are  tied  with  fine  husk.  For  meat, 
chicken,  pork,  and  veal  are  considered  the  best.  There 
is  also  a  sweet  tamale,  made  with  raisins  or  preserves. 
The  following  recipe  for  tamales  was  given  us  by 
Luna: 

TAMALES  Boil  one  chicken  until  the  meat  comes 
from  the  bones.  Chop  the  meat  fine  and 
moisten  it  with  the  liquor  in  which  it  was  boiled.  Boil  six 
large  chili  peppers  in  a  little  water  until  cooked  so  they  can  be 
strained  through  a  fine  strainer,  and  add  to  this  the  chopped 
chicken,  with  salt  to  taste  and  a  little  chopped  parsley.  Take 
corn  meal  and  work  into  it  a  lump  of  butter  the  size  of  an 
egg,  adding  boiling  water  and  working  constantly  until  it  makes 
a  paste  the  consistency  of  biscuit  dough.  Have  ready  a  pile  of 
the  soft  inner  husks  of  green  corn  and  on  each  husk  spread  a 
lump  of  dough,  the  size  of  a  walnut,  into  a  flat  cake  covering 
the  husk.  In  the  center  of  the  dough  put  a  teaspoonful  of  the 
chopped  meat  with  minced  olive.  On  a  large  husk  put  several 
tablespoonfuls  of  chopped  meat  with  olives.  Roll  this  together 
and  lay  on  them  other  husks  until  tlie  tamale  is  of  the  size  de- 
sired. Tie  the  ends  together  with  strips  of  fine  husk  and  put 
in  boiling:  water  for  twenty  minutes.  Either  veal  or  pork  may 
be  used  instead  of  chicken. 

Polenti,  properly  prepared,  is  a  dish  that  requires 
much  labor,  and  scarcely  repays  for  the  time  and  ex- 
ertion spent  in  its  making.  It  differs  from  scrapple  in 
that  the  ingredients  are  mixed  in  a  sauce  and  poured 
over  the  musli  instead  of  being  mixed  in  the  meal.  In 
the  New  Buon  Gusto  restaurant,  in  Broadway,  they  cook 
polenti  to  perfection,  and  when  it  is  served  with  cippino 
it  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.    This  is  the  recipe: 

98 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

For  the  gravy:    Make  a  little  broth  with  veal  bone,  a  small 
piece  of  beef,  a  pig's  foot,  neck,  feet  and  gizzard  of  chicken. 
In  a  separate  kettle  cook  in  hot  oil  one 
sliced  onion,  one  clove  of  garlic,  a  little  POLENT' 

parsley,   one  bell  pepper,   one   tomato,   a 

small  piece  of  celery,  and  a  carrot.  Cook  until  soft  and  then 
add  this  to  the  broth  with  a  few  dried  mushrooms.  Cook  slowly 
for  thirty  minutes  and  then  strain. 

For  the  mush:  Boil  corn  meal  until  it  is  thoroughly  done 
and  then  cool  it  until  it  can  be  cut  in  slices  for  frying.  Mix 
butter  and  olive  oil  and  heat  in  a  frying  pan  and  into  this  put 
the  slices  of  corn  meal,  frying  to  a  light  brown.  Place  the  fried 
corn  meal  in  a  platter  in  layers,  sprinkling  each  with  grated 
Parmesan  cheese,  salt,  and  pepper.  Take  parsley  and  one  clove 
of  garlic  chopped  fine  and  a  can  of  French  mushrooms  cut  in 
quarters,  and  Try  in  butter,  then  add  enough  gravy  to  pour  over 
the  fried  corn  meal.  Place  this  in  an  oven  for  a  few  minutes 
then  serve. 


99 


BOHEMIAN 

Table  d'hote  is  the  feature  of  San  Francisco's  res- 
taurant life.    It  is  the  ideal  method  for  those  who  wish 
a  good  dinner  and  who  have  not  the 
ABOUT  inclination,  or  the  knowledge,  to  or- 

DINING  der  a  special  dinner.     It  is  also  the 

least  expensive  way  of  getting  a  good 
dinner.  It  also  saves  an  exhibition  of  ignorance  regard- 
ing the  dishes,  for  if  you  are  in  doubt  all  you  have  to  do 
is  to  leave  it  to  the  waiter,  and  he  will  bring  the  best 
there  is  on  the  day's  menu  and  will  serve  it  properly. 

It  is  really  something  to  elicit  wonder  when  one  con- 
siders the  possibilities  of  a  table  d'hote  dinner  in  some 
of  the  less  expensive  restaurants.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  Buon  Gusto,  in  Broadway.  This  restaurant  boasts 
a  good  chef,  and  the  food  is  the  finest  the  market  af- 
fords. Here  is  served  a  six  course  dinner  for  fifty  cents, 
and  the  menu  card  is  typical  of  this  class  of  restaurants. 
What  is  provided  is  shown  by  the  following  taken  from 
the  bill  of  fare  as  it  was  served  us : 

Hor  d'ouvres — four  kinds;  five  kinds  of  salad;  two  kinds 
of  soup;  seven  kinds  of  fish;  four  kinds  of  paste;  broiled  spring 
chicken;  green  salad  with  French  dressing;  ice  cream  or  rum 
omelet;  mixed  fruits;  demi  tasse. 

With  this  is  served  a  pint  of  good  table  wine. 

As  one  goes  up  with  the  scale  of  prices  in  the  res- 
taurants that  charge  J?l,  $1.25,  -$1.50,  $2,  $2.50,  and  $3  for 
their  dinners  it  will  be  found  that  the  difference  lies 
chiefly  in  the  variety  from  which  to  choose  and  from 
the  surroundings  and  service. 

Take,  for  example,  the  following  typical  menu  for 
a  dollar  dinner,  served  at  the  Fior  d'ltalia,  and  compare 
it  with  the  fifty-cent  dinner  just  mentioned: 

Salami  and  anchovies;  salad;  chicken  broth  with  Italian 
paste;  fillet  of  English  sole,  sauce  tartare;  spaghetti  or  ravioli; 
escallop  of  veal,  caper  sauce;  French  peas  with  butter;  roast 
chicken  with  chifi^on  salad;  ice  cream  or  fried  cream;  assorted 
fruits  and  cakes;  demi  tasse.    Wine  with  this  dinner  is  extra. 

100 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Now  going  a  step  up  in  the  scale  we  come  to  the 
$1.50  dinner  as  follows: 

Anchovies,  salami  (note  that  it  is  the  ARnTTT* 

same  as  above);  combination  salad;  tortel-  ArJUUl 

lini   di   Bologna  soup;   striped  bass   a   la  DINING 

Livornaise;  ravioli  a  la  Genoese  and  spa- 
ghetti   with    mushrooms;    chicken    saute, 

Italian  style,  with  green  peas;  squab  with  lettuce;   zabaione; 
fruit;  cheese;  coffee.    Wine  is  extra. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  menu  of  the  $3.50  dinner, 
without  wine: 

Pate  de  foie  gras — truffles  on  toast;  salad;  olives;  Alice 
Fallstaff;  Italian  ham  "Prosciutto;"  soup — semino  Italiani  with 
Brodo  de  Cappone;  pompano  a  la  papillote;  tortellini  with 
fungi  a  funghetto;  fritto  misto;  spring  chicken  saute;  Carcioffi 
airinferno;  Capretto  al  Forno  con  Insallata;  omelet  Celestine; 
fruit;  cheese,  and  black  coffee. 

This  dinner  must  be  ordered  three  days  in  advance. 

These  menus  will  give  a  good  idea  of  the  different 
classes  of  dinners  that  can  be  obtained.  Between  are 
dinners  to  suit  all  tastes  and  pocketbooks.  If  you  wish 
to  go  beyond  these  there  is  no  limit  except  the  amount 
of  money  you  have.  If  but  the  food  value  be  taken  into 
consideration  then  one  will  be  as  well  pleased  with  the 
fifty-cent  dinner  as  he  will  be  at  the  higher  priced  meals, 
but  if  light  and  music  and  brilliant  surroundings  are 
desired,  then  one  must  pay  for  them  as  well  as  for  the 
meal  he  eats. 

All  of  the  restaurants  mentioned  serve  good  table 
d'hote  dinners,  giving  an  astonishing  variety  of  foods 
for  the  money,  and  it  is  all  cooked  and  served  in  a  man- 
ner that  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  As  before  men- 
tioned if  you  wish  a  table  d'hote  dinner  composed  en- 
tirely of  sea  food  you  can  get  it  at  the  Shell  Fish  Grotto 
for  one  dollar. 

A  good  rule  to  follow  when  dining  at  any  of  the  res- 
taurants is:  When  in  doubt  order  a  table  d'hote  din- 
ner.   You  will  always  get  a  good  meal,  for  the  least  out- 

101 


BOHEMIAN 

lay  of  money  and  least  expenditure  of  thought.  Often 
one  desires  something  a  little  different,  and  this  is  easy, 
too,  and  you  can  conserve  your  brain 
ABOUT  energ)^  and  get  the  most  for  the  least 

DINING  money  by  seeing  the   proprietor  or 

manager  of  the  restaurant  and  tell- 
ing him  that  you  wish  to  give  a  little  dinner.  Tell  him 
how  many  will  be  in  the  party  and  give  him  the  amount 
you  wish  to  spend.  It  will  be  surprising,  sometimes,  to 
see  how  much  more  you  can  get  for  a  slight  increase  in 
the  price.  Of  course  your  wines  and  cocktails  will  be 
extra  and  these  must  be  reckoned  in  the  cost. 

From  this  we  come  to  the  ordered  dinner,  and  here 
is  where  j'our  own  knowledge  and  special  desires  come 
in.  Here,  too,  comes  a  marked  increase  in  the  cost. 
You  now^  have  the  widest  range  of  possibilities  both  as 
to  viands  and  as  to  price.  It  is  not  at  all  difficult  to 
have  a  dinner,  without  wine,  that  costs  twenty-five  dol- 
lars a  plate,  and  when  you  come  down  to  the  more 
normal  dinners,  unless  you  confine  yourself  to  one  or 
tw^o  dishes  you  will  find  that  you  far  exceed  in  price 
the  table  d'hote  dinners  of  equal  gastronomic  value. 

While  this  is  true  it  is  well  to  be  able  to  order  your 
dinner  for  it  frequently  occurs  that  one  docs  not  care 
to  go  through  the  heavy  course  dinner  provided  table 
d'hote.  Sometimes  one  wants  a  simple  dish,  or  perhaps 
two,  and  it  is  well  to  know  something  about  them  and 
how  to  order  them.  We  have  made  it  a  rule  whenever 
we  have  seen  something  new  on  the  bill  of  fare  to  order 
it,  on  the  theory  that  we  are  willing  to  try  anything 
once,  and  in  this  way  we  have  greatly  enlarged  our 
knowledge  of  good  things. 

It  is  also  well  to  remember  national  characteristics 
and  understand  that  certain  dishes  arc  at  their  best  at 
certain  restaurants.  For  instance,  you  will  be  served 
with  an  excellent  paste  at  a  French  restaurant,  but  if 
you  want  it  at  its  best  you  wdll  get  it  at  an  Italian  res- 

102 


JLt 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

taurant.     On  the  other  hand  if  you  desire  a  delicate 
entree  you  will  get  the  best  at  a  French  restaurant.    For 
instance,  one  would  not  ask  for  sauer 
braten  anywhere  except  at  a  German  ABOUT 

restaurant.     It  will  readily  be  seen  DINING 

that  the  Elegant  Art  of  Dining  in  San 
Francisco  means  much  more  than  the  sitting  at  table 
and  partaking  of  what  is  put  before  you.  Dining  is  an 
art,  and  its  pleasure  is  greatly  enhanced  by  a  knowl- 
edge of  foods,  cooking,  serving,  national  characteristics, 
and  combinations  of  both  foods  and  wines.  How  few 
people  are  there,  for  instance,  who  know  that  one  should 
never  drink  any  hard  liquor,  like  whisky,  brandy,  or 
gin,  with  oysters.  Many  a  fit  of  acute  stomach  trouble 
has  been  attributed  to  some  food  that  was  either  bad  or 
badly  prepared  when  the  cause  of  the  trouble  was  the 
fact  that  a  cocktail  had  been  taken  just  prior  to  eating 
oysters. 

Some  of  the  possibilities  of  dining  in  San  Francisco 
may  be  understood  when  we  tell  you  of  a  progressive 
dinner.  We  had  entertained  one  of  the  Exposition 
Commissioners  from  a  sister  State  and  he  was  so  well 
pleased  with  what  he  had  learned  in  a  gastronomic  way 
that  he  said  to  us: 

"The  Governor  of  my  State  is  coming  and  I  should 
like  to  give  him  a  dinner  that  will  open  his  eyes  to  San 
Francisco's  possibilities.  Would  it  be  asking  too  much 
of  you  to  have  you  help  me  do  it?" 

"We  shall  be  glad  to.    What  do  you  want  us  to  do?" 

"Take  charge  of  the  whole  business,  do  as  you  please 
and  go  as  far  as  you  like." 

"That  is  a  wide  order,  General.  What  is  the  limit  of 
price,  and  how  many  will  be  in  the  party?" 

"Just  six.  That  will  include  the  Governor  and  his 
wife,  you  two  and  myself  and  wife.  Let  it  be  something 
unusual  and  do  not  let  the  cost  interfere.    What  I  want 


is  something  unusual." 


lOS 


BOHEMIAN 

It  has  been  told  us  that  when  the  Governor  got  back 

home  he  tried  to  tell  some  of  his  friends  about  that 

dinner,  but  they  told  him  he  had  ac- 

ABOUT  quired  the  California  habit  of  talking 

DINING  wide.    This  is  the  way  we  carried  out 

the  dinner,  everything  being  arranged 
in  advance:  At  6:30  we  called  at  the  rooms  of  the 
Governor  in  the  Palace  Hotel  and  had  served  there  dry 
Martini  cocktails  with  Russian  caviar  on  toasted  rye 
bread. 

An  automobile  was  in  waiting,  and  at  seven  o'clock 
we  were  set  down  at  Felix's,  in  Montgomery  street, 
where  a  table  was  ready  for  us  and  on  it  were  served 
salami  of  various  kinds,  artichokes  in  oil  and  ripe 
olives.  Then  came  a  service  of  soup,  for  which  this  res- 
taurant is  famous,  followed  by  a  combination  salad, 
with  which  was  served  a  bottle  of  Pontet  Canet. 

The  automobile  carried  us  then  over  to  Broadway 
and  at  the  Fior  d'ltalia  our  table  was  waiting  and  here 
we  were  served  with  sand-dabs  au  gratin,  and  a  small 
glass  of  sauterne. 

All  the  haste  we  made  was  on  the  streets,  and  when 
we  finished  our  course  at  the  Fior  d'ltalia  we  whirled 
away  over  toward  North  Beach  to  the  Gianduja,  where 
had  been  prepared  especially  for  us  tagliarini  with 
chicken  livers  and  mushrooms,  and  because  of  its  suc- 
cess we  had  a  bottle  of  Lacrima  Chrisli  Spumanti,  the 
enjoyment  of  which  delayed  us. 

Again  in  the  automobile  to  Coppa's  where  Chicken 
Portola  was  served,  with  green  peas.  Accompanying 
this  was  a  glass  of  Krug,  and  this  was  followed  by  a 
glass  of  zabaione  for  dessert. 

Back  again  to  the  heart  of  the  city  and  we  stopped 
at  Raggi's,  in  Montgomery  street  near  Commercial 
where  we  had  a  glass  of  brandy  in  which  was  a  chinotti 
(a  peculiar  Italian  preserved  fruit  which  is  said  to  be  a 
cross  between  a  citron  and  an  orange). 

10^ 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Then  around  the  corner  to  Gouailhardou&  Rondel's, 
the  Market  Cafe,  where  from  a  plain  pine  table,  and  on 
sanded  floor,  we  had  our  coff'ee  royal. 
As  a  fitting  climax  for  this  evening  ABOUT 

we  directed  the  chauffeur  to  drive  to  DINING 

the  Cliff  House,  where,  over  a  bottle 
of  Krug,  we  talked  it  all  over  as  we  watched  the  dancing 
and  listened  to  the  singing  of  the  cabaret  performers. 

This  dinner,  including  everything  from  the  automo- 
bile to  the  tips  cost  but  fifteen  dollars  for  each  one  in 
the  party. 


105 


BOHEMIAN 

Cooking  is  sometimes  a  pleasure,  sometimes  a  duty, 

sometimes  a  burden  and  sometimes  a  martj'rdom,  all 

according  to  the  point  of  view.    The 

SOMETHING       extremes  are  rarities,  and  sometimes 

ABOUT  duty   and   burden    are   synonymous. 

COOKINCi  In  ordinary  understanding  we  have 

American  cooking  and  Foreign  cook- 
ing, and  to  one  accustomed  to  plain  American  cooking, 
all  variants,  and  all  additions  of  spices,  herbs,  or  un- 
usual condiments  is  classed  under  the  head  of  Foreign. 
In  the  average  American  family  cooking  is  a  duty 
usually  considered  as  one  of  the  necessary  evils  of  ex- 
istence, and  food  is  prepared  as  it  is  usually  eaten — 
hastily — something  to  fill  the  stomach. 

The  excuse  most  frequently  heard  in  San  Francisco 
for  the  restaurant  habit,  and  for  living  in  cooped-up 
apartments,  is  that  the  wife  wants  to  get  away  from  the 
burden  of  the  kitchen  and  drudgery  of  housework.  And 
like  many  other  effects  this  eventually  becomes  a  cause, 
for  both  husband  and  wife  become  accustomed  to  bet- 
ter cooking  than  they  could  get  at  home  and  there  is  a 
continuance  of  the  custom,  for  both  get  a  distaste  for 
plainly  cooked  food,  and  the  wife  does  not  know  how 
to  cook  any  other  way. 

Yet  when  all  is  considered  the  difference  between 
plain  American  cooking  and  what  is  termed  Foreign 
cooking,  is  but  the  proper  use  of  condiments  and  sea- 
soning, combined  with  proper  variety  of  the  food  sup- 
ply from  the  markets.  Herein  lies  the  secret  of  a  good 
table — proper  combination  of  ingredients  and  proper 
variation  and  selection  of  the  provisions  together  with 
proper  preparation  and  cooking  of  the  food. 

We  have  met  with  many  well  educated  and  wtU 
raised  men  and  women  whose  gastronomic  knowledge 
was  so  limited  as  to  be  appalling.  All  they  knew  of 
meats  was  confiiied  to  ordinary  poultry,  i.  e.,  chickens 
and  turkeys,  and  to  beef,  veal,  pork,  and  mutton.    Of 

106 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

these  there  were  but  three  modes  of  cooking — frying, 
stewing  and  baking,  sometimes  boiling.     Their  chops 
were  always  fried  as  they  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  delicate  flavor  imparted  by      SOMETHING 
broiling.  In  fact  their  knowledge  was  ABOUT 

confined  to  the  least  healthful  and  COOKING 
least  nutritious  modes  of  preparation 
and  cooking.  Not  only  is  this  true  of  the  average  Ameri- 
can family,  but  their  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  funda- 
mentals of  cooking  and  food  values  brings  about  a 
waste  largely  responsible  for  what  is  called  the  "high 
cost  of  living."  It  is  a  trite,  but  nevertheless  true  saying 
that  a  French  family  could  live  well  on  what  an  Ameri- 
can family  wastes.  Waste  in  preparation  is  but  the 
mildest  form  of  waste.  Waste  consequent  upon  lack  of 
knowledge  of  food  values  is  the  waste  that  is  doubly 
expensive  for  it  not  only  wastes  food  but  it  also  wastes 
the  system  whose  energy  is  exhausted  in  trying  to  as- 
similate improper  alimentation. 

It  is  a  well  recognized  medical  fact  that  much  of  the 
illness  of  Americans  arises  from  two  causes,  improper 
food  and  improper  eating  methods.  In  Europe  this  fact 
was  recognized  and  generally  known  so  long  ago  that  the 
study  of  food  values  and  preparation  for  proper  assimi- 
lation is  one  of  the  essential  parts  of  every  woman's 
education,  and  to  such  a  degree  has  this  become  raised 
to  a  science  that  schools  and  even  colleges  in  cooking 
are  to  be  found  in  many  parts  of  England,  France  and 
Germany.  Francatelli,  the  great  chef  who  was  at  the 
head  of  Queen  Victoria's  kitchen,  boasts  proudly  of  his 
diploma  from  the  Parisian  College  of  Cooking. 

The  United  States  is  now  beginning  to  wake  up  to 
the  fact  that  the  preparation  of  food  is  something  more 
than  a  necessary  evil,  and  from  the  old  cooking  classes 
of  our  common  schools  has  developed  the  classes  in 
Domestic  Science,  that  which  was  formerly  considered 
drudgery  now  being  elevated  to  an  art  and  digniiied  as 

107 


BOHEMIAN 

a  science.  In  Europe  this  stage  was  reached  many  gen- 
erations ago,  and  there  it  is  now  an  art  which  has  ele- 
vated the  primitive  process  of  feed- 
SOMETHING        ^"S  to  the  elegant  art  of  dining.     In 

ABOUT  ^^"  Francisco  probably  more  than  in 

COOKING  ^^y  other  city  in  the  United  States, 

not  even  excepting  New  Orleans,  this 
art  has  flourished  for  many  years  with  the  result  that 
the  average  San  Franciscan  is  disappointed  at  the  food 
served  in  other  cities  of  his  country,  and  always  longs 
for  his  favorite  restaurant  even  as  the  children  of  Israel 
longed  for  the  flesh  pots  of  Egj-^pt. 

One  needs  to  spend  a  day  in  the  Italian  quarter  of 
San  Francisco  to  come  to  a  full  realization  of  the  dif- 
ference between  the  requirements  of  even  the  poorest 
Italian  family  and  the  average  American  family  of  the 
better  class.  We  need  but  say  that  we  have  been  study- 
ing this  question  for  nearly  twenty  years  yet  even  now 
we  meet  with  surprises  in  the  way  of  new  delicacies  and 
modes  of  using  herbs  and  spices  in  food  preparation. 

If  we  were  to  attempt  even  to  enumerate  the  various 
herbs,  spices,  flavorings,  delicacies,  and  pastes  to  be 
found  in  a  well  regulated  Italian  shop  it  would  take 
many  pages  of  this  book,  yet  every  one  of  these  articles 
has  its  own  individual  and  peculiar  use,  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  these  articles  and  how  to  use  them  is  what 
makes  the  difference  between  American  and  Foreign 
cooking.  Each  herb  has  a  peculiar  quality  as  a  stom- 
achic and  it  must  be  as  delicately  measured  as  if  it  were 
a  medicine.  The  use  of  garlic,  so  much  decried  as 
plebeian,  is  the  secret  of  some  of  the  finest  dishes  pre- 
pared by  the  highest  chefs.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  in  the  use  of  all  flavors  and  condiments  there  may 
be  an  intemperance,  there  lying  the  root  of  much  of  the 
bad  cooking. 

Garlic,  for  instance,  is  a  flavor  and  not  a  food,  yet 
many  of  the  lower  class  foreigners  eat  it  on  bread,  mak- 

108 


i 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

ing  a  meal  of  dark  bread,  garlic  and  red  wine.    It  is  of- 
fensive to  sensitive  nostrils  and  vitiates  the  taste  when 
thus  used,  but  when  properly  added 
to  certain  foods  it  gives  an  intangible        SOMETHING 
flavor    which    never    fails    to    elicit  ABOUT 

praise.    What  is  true  of  garlic  is  also  COOKING 

true  of  the  many  herbs  that  are  used. 
It  is  easy  to  pass  from  a  rare  flavor  that  makes  a  most 
savory  dish  to  a  taste  of  medicine  that  spoils  a  dinner. 
With  the  well-known  prodigal  and  wasteful  habits  of 
America  the  American  who  learns  the  use  of  herbs 
usually  makes  the  initial  mistake  of  putting  in  the  fla- 
voring herbs  with  too  lavish  a  hand,  and  it  is  only  after 
years  of  experience  that  a  knowledge  of  proper  com- 
binations is  obtained. 

Visitors  have  often  expressed  wonder  at  the  variety 
of  foods  and  delicate  flavors  in  San  Francisco  restau- 
rants, and  possibly  this  brief  explanation  may  give 
some  comprehension  of  why  San  Franciscans  always 
want  to  get  back  to  where  they  "can  get  something 
to  eat." 


109 


BOHEMIAN 

"Surely  the  old  Bohemians  of  San  Francisco  did  not 

spend  all  their  time  in  restaurants.    How  did  they  live 

when  at  home?"     This  is  what  was 

TOLD  said  to  us  one  day  when  we  were  talk- 

INA  ing  about  the  old  days  and  the  old 

WHISPER  people.  Indeed  they  did  not  live  all 
their  time  in  restaurants.  Some  of 
the  most  enjoyable  meals  we  have  eaten  have  been  in 
the  rooms  and  apartments  of  our  Bohemian  friends, 
and  these  meals  were  prepared  generally  by  each  one 
present  doing  his  or  her  part  in  making  it  a  success. 
One  would  make  the  salad,  another  the  main  dish,  and 
others  do  various  forms  of  scullery  work,  and  in  the 
end  we  would  have  a  meal  that  would  often  put  to  blush 
the  efforts  of  many  of  the  renowned  chefs. 

Many  people  who  come  to  San  Francisco  will  wish 
to  conserve  their  finances  as  much  as  possible,  and  they 
will  wish  to  enjoy  life  in  their  apartments.  There  are 
also  many  people  who  live  in  San  Francisco  who  need  a 
little  advice  on  how  to  get  the  best  out  of  life,  and  we 
are  going  to  whisper  a  few  words  to  all  such  as  these  we 
have  mentioned. 

You  can  be  a  Bohemian  and  have  the  very  best  sort 
of  living  in  your  own  room  for  less  than  half  the  money 
it  will  take  to  live  at  the  hotels  and  restaurants,  and  we 
are  sure  many  of  you  would  like  to  know  something 
about  how  to  do  it.  It  is  not  necessary  to  confine  your- 
self to  the  few  things  in  your  limited  experience.  If  you 
are  going  to  be  in  San  Francisco  for  more  than  a  week, 
you  will  find  that  a  little  apartment,  furnished  ready  for 
housekeeping,  will  give  j'ou  opportunity  to  be  indepen- 
dent and  free.  You  will  get  your  own  breakfasts,  when 
and  how  you  want  them.  Your  luncheons  and  dinners 
can  be  gotten  in  your  rooms  or  at  the  restaurants  just  as 
you  are  inclined. 

You  will  find  delight  and  education  in  visiting  the 
markets,  and  the  foreign  stores  where  all  the  strange 

HO 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

and  unusual  foods  of  all  nations  are  to  be  found.    You 

will  discover  belter  articles  at  less  prices  at  the  little 

Italian,  French,  Mexican  or  Chinese 

stores  and  stalls  than  can  be  had  in  lOLU 

the  most  aristocratic  stores  in  the  city.  ^N  A 

Above  all  you  will  find  a  joy  of  in-        WHISPER 

vention  and  will  be  surprised  at  the 

delectable  dishes  you  can  prepare  at  a  minimum  of  cost. 

When  you  visit  San  Francisco  you  are  desirous  of 
so  arranging  j'^our  finances  that  you  may  see  the  most 
for  the  least  outlay  of  money.  After  a  strenuous  day  of 
sight-seeing  j'^ou  will  scarcely  feel  like  getting  up  a  good 
meal,  consequently  then  you  will  follow  the  ideas  sug- 
gested in  this  book  and  visit  the  various  restaurants, 
thus  obtaining  a  variety  both  in  foods  and  in  informa- 
tion of  an  educational  nature.  But  sometimes  you  will 
not  be  tired,  or  you  will  wish  to  get  up  a  little  late  sup- 
per after  theatre,  and  it  is  then  that  you  will  be  glad  of 
the  opportunity  afforded  by  having  your  own  kitchen 
arrangements  so  that  you  can  carry  out  your  tastes,  and 
cook  some  of  the  strange  and  new  foods  that  you 
have  discovered  in  your  rambles  through  the  foreign 
quarters. 

Take  the  simple  matter  of  sausage,  for  instance. 
Ordinarily  we  know  of  but  three  kinds — pork  sausage, 
frankfurter  and  bologna — neither  very  appetizing  or  ap- 
pealing, except  sometimes  the  pork  sausage  for  break- 
fast. Over  in  the  little  Italian  and  French  shops  you 
will  find  some  of  the  most  wonderful  sausages  that 
mind  can  conceive  of.  Some  of  these  are  so  elaborate 
in  their  preparation  that  they  cost  even  in  that  inex- 
pensive part  of  the  city,  seventy  cents  a  pound,  and  the 
variety  is  almost  as  infinite  as  that  of  the  pastes.  In  the 
Mexican  stores  you  will  find  a  sausage  that  gives  a  de- 
lightful flavor  to  anything  it  is  cooked  with,  and  it  is 
when  you  see  these  sausages  that  your  eyes  begin  to  be 
opened. 

ill 


BOHEMIAN 

You  now  take  cognizance  of  many  things  that  here- 
tofore escaped  your  observation.  You  see  new  canned 
goods ;  a  wonderful  variety  of  cheeses ; 
TOLD  strange  dried  vegetables  and  delica- 

IN  A  cies  unheard  of;  preserved  vegetables 

WHISPER  and  fish  and  meats  in  oil;  queer  fish 
pickled  and  dried.  You  begin  to  learn 
of  the  many  uses  of  olive  oil  in  cooking  and  in  food  pre- 
paration. You  see  the  queer  shapes  of  bread,  and  note 
the  numerous  kinds  of  cakes  and  pastry  that  you  never 
saw  or  heard  of  before.  You  see  boxes  of  dried  herbs, 
and  begin  to  realize  why  you  have  never  been  able  to 
reproduce  certain  flavors  you  have  tasted  in  restau- 
rants. You  see  strange-looking,  flat  hams,  and  are  told 
that  they  are  Italian  hams,  and  if  you  buy  some  you  will 
find  that  they  cut  the  ham  the  wrong  way,  and  instead 
of  slicing  it  across  the  grain  they  cut  in  very  thin  slices 
down  the  length  of  the  bone.  Their  flavor  is  more  de- 
licious than  that  of  any  ham  you  have  tasted  since  you 
used  to  get  the  old-time,  genuine  country  smoked  hams. 
But  if  you  investigate  a  little  deeper  you  will  learn  that 
these  hams  were  not  put  up  in  Italy  at  all,  but  that  it 
is  a  special  brand  that  is  prepared  in  Virginia  for  the 
Italians. 

In  the  French  stores  you  will  find  preserved  cocks- 
combs, snails,  marvelous  blood  sausages  with  nuts  in 
them,  rare  cheeses,  prepared  meats  in  jellies,  and  hun- 
dreds of  delicacies  unknown  to  you.  You  can  spend 
days  in  these  stores,  finding  something  new  all  the  lime. 
We  have  been  going  there  for  years  and  still  run  across 
new  things. 

Remember  that  to  the  people  of  the  Latin  Quarter 
these  things  are  all  usual  consequently  they  think  you 
know  as  much  about  them  as  they  do,  and  will  volun- 
teer no  information  regarding  them.  Possibly  they  will 
smile  at  your  ignorance  when  you  ask  them  questions, 
but  do  not  hesitate  to  ask,  for  they  are  courteous  and 

112 


SAN   FRANCISCO 

that  is  the  only  way  you  can  find  out  tilings,  and  learn 
what  all  these  new  edibles  are  and  what  they  are  good 
for.     There  is  no  greater  possibility 
of  interest  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  TOLD 

stores  of  San  Francisco's  Latin  Quar-  IN  A 

ter,  and  we  mean  by  this  the  stores       WHISPER 
that  cater  to  the  people  of  the  Quar- 
ter.   In  stores  and  restaurants  frequented  by  Americans 
they  cater  to  American  tastes  and  lose  much  of  the  for- 
eign flavor. 

It  is  also  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  not  in  the 
largest  stores  that  you  find  the  greatest  variety  when  it 
comes  to  odd  and  new  goods.  A  little  shop,  barely  large 
enough  to  turn  around  in  between  counter  and  wall, 
may  have  enough  of  interest  to  entertain  you  for  half 
an  hour,  and  here  the  prices  will  be  remarkably  low, 
for  these  people  have  so  little  of  the  outside  trade  that 
they  have  not  learned  to  add  to  their  prices  when  they 
see  an  American  face  coming. 

What  is  true  of  the  stores  is  also  true  of  the  vege- 
table stands,  the  meat  shops,  the  fish  stalls,  and  bakeries. 
Here  you  will  find  better  and  fresher  food  supplies  than 
in  any  of  the  similar  places  in  other  parts  of  the  city, 
and  the  price  is  generally  one-third  less.  The  high  cost 
of  living  has  not  reached  this  thrifty  people  with  their 
inborn  knowledge  of  the  values  of  foods.  They  live 
twice  as  well  as  the  average  American  family  at  half  the 
cost.  They  combine  knowledge  of  food  values  with  the 
art  of  preparation  and  have  a  resultant  meal  that  is 
tasty,  full  flavored,  and  nourishing  at  a  minimum  of 
expense. 

Perhaps  you  want  a  meal.  Your  thoughts  at  once 
run  to  steaks  and  chops,  and  fried  potatoes.  Nothing 
but  a  porterhouse  or  tenderloin  steak  or  a  kidney  chop 
will  do.  It  is  the  most  expensive  meat  and  you  think 
that  of  course  it  is  the  best  and  most  nourishing.  If  the 
knov/ledge  of  food  values  were  with  you,  you  would  get 

113 


BOHEMIAN 

the  less  expensive  and  more  nourishing  cuts.  A  flank 
steak,  perhaps,  prepared  en  casserole,  and  you  would 

have  a  fine  dish  for  half  the  money. 

TOLD  As  it  is  in  meats  so  it  is  in  all  foods. 

IN  A  For  ten  cents  two  people  can  have  a 

WHISPEPi       dinner  of  tagliarini  that  is  at  once 

nourishing  and  salisfj-^ing  in  flavor. 
Of  course  all  this  requires  knowledge,  but  that  is  easily 
acquired,  and  it  adds  to  the  zest  of  life  to  know  that  you 
can  do  that  which  lifts  eating  from  the  plane  of  feeding 
to  that  of  dining;  that  you  can  change  existence  into 
living.  All  because  you  dare  to  break  away  from  con- 
ventionalities which  make  so  many  people  affect  igno- 
rance of  how  to  live  because  they  imagine  it  is  an 
evidence  of  refinement.  If  they  but  knew  it,  their  affec- 
tation and  their  ignorance  is  the  hall  mark  of  low  caste. 
Now  about  this  whisper:  We  have  a  friend  who 
has  a  little  apartment  where  he  has  kept  bachelor's  hall 
for  many  years.  Here  some  of  our  most  pleasant  eve- 
nings have  been  spent,  and  we  never  fear  to  go  on  ac- 
count of  the  possibility  that  he  may  be  embarrassed  or 
inconvenienced  through  lack  of  something  to  eat  or 
drink,  for  he  is  never  at  a  loss  to  prepare  something 
dainty  and  appetizing  for  us,  and  it  really  seems,  some- 
times, that  he  makes  a  meal  out  of  nothing.  Often 
Charlie  telephones  us  that  he  has  discovered  a  new  dish 
and  hurries  us  over  to  pass  judgment  on  it.  And,  by 
the  way,  many  of  the  good  dishes  of  Bohemia  are  the 
result  of  accident  rather  than  design. 


liff 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

It  is  surprising  what  a  good  meal  you  can  get  up 
sometimes  when  "there's  not  a  thing  in  the  house  to  eat." 
Let  us  give  you  an  example.  One  eve- 
ning two  of  our  young  friends  came        OUT  OF 
over  to  tell  us  their  sweet  secret,  and      NOTHING 
with  them  was  another  young  lady. 
While  we  were  talking  it  over  and  making  plans  for  the 
wedding  another  friend  dropped  in  because  he  said  our 
"light  looked  inviting." 

An  hour  or  so  of  talk  and  then  one  of  us  signalled 
to  the  other  and  received  the  shocking  signal  back, 
"There's  not  a  thing  to  eat  in  the  house."  This  called 
for  an  investigation  of  the  larder  in  which  all  joined 
with  the  following  result :  Item — two  cans  of  reed  birds 
from  China,  each  containing  twelve  of  the  little  birds 
as  large  as  your  thumb.  Item — one  egg.  Other  items — 
one  onion,  two  slices  of  dry  bread,  one  green  pepper, 
rather  small,  one  dozen  crackers.  Item — one  case  of 
imported  Italian  Vin  d'Oro  Spumanti.  Item — six  hearty 
appetites  to  be  appeased. 

The  gentleman  who  saw  our  light  saw  another,  and 
rushed  off  to  a  barber  shop,  and  got  four  more  eggs. 
Barbers  use  eggs,  and  they  must  be  fresh  ones,  in  sham- 
pooing, and  our  friend  remembered  it. 

The  two  young  ladies  and  the  young  man  prepared 
the  table,  and  the  other  lady  and  the  two  gentlemen  set 
about  getting  a  meal.  One  of  us  made  an  omelet  of  the 
five  eggs,  the  onion  and  the  green  pepper,  with  crumbs 
of  bread,  and  this  is  the  recipe : 

Take  five  eggs  and  beat  until  very  light.     qMELET  A  LA 
Roll  two  slices  of  dried  bread  to  crumbs      PERUOUIER 
and  mix  with  the  beaten  eggs.    Chop  fine 

one  onion  and  one  green  pepper,  season  with  salt  and  pepper. 
Pour  a  tablespoonful  of  olive  oil  in  an  omelet  pan  and  in  this 
fry  the  peppers  and  onion  to  a  light  brown.  When  ready  turn 
into  this  the  beaten  eggs,  and  cook  until  done.  Follow  the  rule 
of  never  disturbing  a  cooking  egg  or  a  sleeping  child.  Serve  on 
a  hot  dish. 

il5 


BOHEMIAN 

Take  two  cans  of  Chinese  reed  birds,  open  them  and  take 

therefrom  the  two  dozen  birds  contained  therein.     In  a  hot 

frying  pan  place  the  birds  in  the  grease 

REED  BIRDS         that   comes   around   them   and  heat  them 

A  LA  CHINOISE      through.      Toast    twelve    square    crackers 

and   on   each  place  two  reed   birds,  and 

serve  two  on  each  of  six  hot  plates.    With  both  the  omelet  and 

the  reed  birds  serve  Vin  d'Oro. 


116 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

In  an  Italian  grocery  store  we  noticed  a  great  variety 
of  pastes  in  boxes  arranged  along  the  counter  and  be- 
gan counting  them.     The  proprietor 
noticed  us  and,  with  a  characteristic  PASTE 

shrug  of  his  shoulders,  said:   "That  is  MAKES 

but  a  few  of  them.  We  have  not  room  WAIST 

to  show  them  all."  In  response  to  our 
inquiry  regarding  the  number  of  kinds  of  paste  made 
by  Italians  he  said  there  were  more  than  seventy-five. 
Ordinarily  we  think  of  one — spaghetti — or  possibly  two, 
including  macaroni.  If  our  knowledge  goes  a  little 
farther  we  think  also  of  tagliarini,  which  is  the  Italian 
equivalent  of  noodles,  as  it  is  made  with  eggs. 

In  New  York  we  were  much  impressed  with  the 
stress  they  laid  on  the  serving  of  spaghetti,  and  one  res- 
taurant went  so  far  as  to  advertise  dinners  given  "under 
the  spaghetti  vine."  It  appears  that  this  is  the  only 
paste  they  know  anything  about. 

After  one  eats  tagliarini  or  ravioli  one  feels  like 
paraphrasing  the  darkey  and  saying,  "go  waj'^  spaghetti, 
yo  done  los'  yo  tase." 

Then  comes  tortelini  which,  like  ravioli,  combines 
paste  witti  meat  and  spinach.  These  may  be  considered 
the  most  prominent  of  the  pastes,  the  others  being  vari- 
ants in  the  making  and  cutting,  each  serving  a  special 
purpose  in  cooking,  some  being  for  soups,  others  for 
sauces  and  others  for  dressing  for  meats.  It  is  more 
than  probable  that  the  great  variety  comes  from  indi- 
vidual tastes  in  cutting  or  rolling. 

All  Italian  restaurants  serve  the  paste  as  a  releve 
rather  than  as  an  entree,  which  it  usually  follows,  pre- 
ceding the  roast  in  the  dinner.  As  a  separate  and  dis- 
tinct dish  it  can  well  be  made  to  serve  as  a  full  meal, 
especially  when  tagliarini  is  prepared  after  the  follow- 
ing recipe : 

Cook  one  pound  of  tagliarini  in  boiling  water  twenty-five 
minutes,  tlien  draw  off  the  water.  To  ttie  tagliarini  add  a  hand- 

117 


BOHEMIAN 

ful  of  mushrooms  which  have  been  sliced  and  fried  in  butter. 

Then  add  three  chicken  livers  which  have  been  chopped  small 

and  fried,  one  sliced  truHle,  one  red  pep- 

TAGLIAULM      P^^''   chopped   line   and   a   little   Parmesan 

DES  cheese.    Make  a  brown  sauce  of  one-third 

BEAUX  ARTS      beef  broth  thickened  with  melted  butter 

and  flour  and  two-thirds  tomato  sauce,  and 

pour  this   over  the   tagliarini.      Sprinkle   with   the   Parmesan 

cheese  and  serve  very  hot  from  a  chafing  dish.    (By  Oliver,  chef 

of  the  Restaurant  des  Beaux  Arts,  Paris.) 

In  San  Francisco  one  finds  both  the  imported  and 
the  domestic  paste,  and  frequently  one  hears  the  asser- 
tion that  the  imported  is  the  better.  This  idea  is  born  of 
the  thought  that  all  things  from  Europe  are  better  than 
the  same  made  in  America.  In  fact  the  paste  that  comes 
from  Italy  is  neither  so  good  in  taste,  nor  is  it  so  clean  in 
the  making.  We  have  visited  a  number  of  paste  fac- 
tories in  San  Francisco  and  have  found  them  all  scrupu- 
lously clean,  with  the  best  of  materials  in  the  composi- 
tion of  the  pastes. 

One  often  wonders  how  the  pastes  came  to  be  so 
many  and  how  they  received  their  names.  Names  of 
some  of  them  are  accidents,  as  is  illustrated  by  maca- 
roni. According  to  an  Italian  friend  who  vouches  for 
the  fact,  it  received  its  name  from  an  expression  of 
pleasure.  "Macari"  means  "fine,  excellent,"  and  the 
superlative  is  "macaroni."  A  famous  Italian  gourmet 
constantly  desired  new  dishes  to  please  his  taste,  and 
one  day  his  chef  carried  to  him  something  that  was 
unusual.  The  gourmet  tasted  it,  cried  out  "macari!" 
Tasted  again,  threw  out  his  arms  in  delight  and  cried 
"macaroni!" 

"What  is  the  name  of  this  wonderful  dish?" 

"You  have  named  it.    It  is  macaroni." 


118 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Tipping  is  variously  designated.     Some  say  it  is  a 
nuisance  and  should  be  abolished.    Some  call  it  an  out- 
rage and  ask  for  legislative  interfer- 
ence.   Some  say  it  is  an  extortion  and  ^  ^^^ 
refuse  to  pay  it.     Some  say  it  is  a             AND 
necessary  evil  and  suffer  it.   The  wise         TIPPING 
ones   look   at   it   a   little   differently. 
Possibly  it  is  best  explained  or  excused,  whichever  way 
you  wish  to  call  it,  by  one  of  Gouverneur  Morris's  char- 
acters in  a  recent  story,  who  says : 

"Whenever  I  go  anywhere  I  find  persons  in  humble 
situations  who  smile  at  me  and  wish  me  well.  I  smile 
back  and  wish  them  well.  It  is  because  at  some  time  or 
other  I  have  tipped  them.  To  me  the  system  has  never 
been  an  annoyance  but  a  delightful  opportunity  for  the 
exercise  of  tact  and  judgment." 

We  look  upon  tipping  as  a  part  of  expense  to  be  cal- 
culated upon,  necessary  to  insure  good  service,  not  only 
now  but  in  the  future,  and  it  should  always  be  com- 
puted in  the  expense  of  a  trip  or  a  dinner.  Tipping,  to 
our  minds,  is  the  oil  that  makes  the  wheels  of  life  run 
smoothly. 

The  amount  of  the  tip  is  always  a  matter  of  indi- 
vidual judgment,  dependent  upon  the  service  rendered, 
and  the  way  it  is  rendered.  The  good  traveler  wants  to 
tip  properly,  neither  too  little  nor  too  much,  thereby 
getting  the  l3est  service,  for  in  the  last  analysis  the  pleas- 
ure of  a  trip  depends  upon  the  service  received.  Ameri- 
can prodigality  and  asininity  is  responsible  for  much 
of  the  abuse  of  tipping.  Too  many  Americans  when 
they  travel  desire  to  appear  important  and  the  only  way 
they  can  accomplish  this  is  by  buying  the  subserviency 
of  menials  who  laugh  at  them  behind  their  backs. 

A  tip  should  always  depend  upon  the  service  ren- 
dered. We  make  it  a  rule  to  withhold  the  tip  from  a 
careless  or  inconsiderate  waiter,  and  always  add  to  the 
tip  a  word  of  commendation  when  there  has  been  extra 

119 


BOHEMIAN 

good  service.  The  amount  of  the  tip  depends,  first  on 

the  service,  second  on  the  amount  of  the  bill,  and  third, 

on  the  character  of  the  place  where 

TIPS  you  are  served.     When  we  order  a 

AND  specially  prepared  dinner,  with  our 

TIPPING  suggestions  as  to  its  composition  and 

service,  we  tip  the  head  waiter,  the 
chef,  the  waiter  and  the  bus  boy.  We  have  given  din- 
ners where  the  tips  amounted  to  fully  half  as  much  as 
the  dinner  itself,  and  w^e  felt  that  this  part  of  the  ex- 
pense brought  us  the  greatest  pleasure. 

It  is  impossible  to  make  a  hard  and  fast  rule  regard- 
ing how  much  to  give  a  waiter.  Each  person  must  use 
his  or  her  own  judgment.  If  you  are  in  a  foreign  coun- 
try you  might  do  as  we  did  on  our  first  trip  to  Paris. 
We  wanted  to  do  what  was  right  but  not  what  most 
Americans  think  is  right.  We  were  at  a  hotel  where 
only  French  were  usually  guests,  and  in  order  to  do  the 
right  thing  we  took  the  proprietor  into  our  confidence 
and  explained  to  him  our  dilemma.  We  asked  him 
whom  to  tip  and  how  much  to  give,  and  he  got  us  out 
of  our  diiliculty  and  we  found  that  the  tips  amounted  to 
about  as  much  for  one  whole  week  as  we  had  been  held 
up  for  in  one  day  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria. 


IW 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Webster  gives  no  rec- 
ognition in  his  dictionary  to  the  Land  of  Bohemia  or  the 
occupants  thereof,  the  land  exists,  per- 
haps not  in  a  material  way,  but  cer-  THE 
tainly  mentally.     Some  have  not  the     MYTHICAL 
perception  to  see  it;  some  know  not          LAND 
the  language   that  admits   entrance; 
some  pass  it  by  every  day  without  understanding  it. 
Yet  it  as  truly  exists  as  any  of  the  lands  told  of  in  our 
childhood  fables  and  fairy  stories. 

The  old  definition  of  Bohemian  was  "a  vagabond,  a 
wayfarer."  Possibly  that  definition  may,  to  a  certain 
extent,  be  true  of  the  present-day  Bohemian,  for  he  is 
a  mental  vagabond  and  a  mental  wayfarer. 

In  our  judgment  the  word  comes  from  the  French 
"Bon  Homme,"  for  surely  the  Bohemian  is  a  "good 
man." 

Whatever  may  be  the  derivation  the  fact  remains 
that  not  to  all  is  given  the  perception  to  understand,  nor 
the  eyes  to  see,  and  therein  lies  one  of  the  dangers  of 
writing  such  a  book  as  this.  If  you  read  this  and  then 
hurry  off  to  a  specified  restaurant  with  the  expectation 
of  finding  the  Bohemian  atmosphere  in  evidence  you 
are  apt  to  be  disappointed,  for  frequently  it  is  necessary 
to  create  your  own  Bohemian  atmosphere. 

Then,  too,  all  nights  are  not  the  same  at  restau- 
rants. For  instance  if  you  desire  the  best  service  af- 
forded in  any  restaurant  do  not  select  Saturday  or 
Sunday  night,  but  if  you  will  lay  aside  your  desire  for 
personal  comfort  in  service,  and  wish  to  study  charac- 
ter, then  take  Saturday  or  Sunday  night  for  your  visit. 
It  is  very  possible  that  you  will  think  the  restaurant  has 
changed  hands  between  Friday  and  Saturday.  On  Sat- 
urday and  Sunday  evening  the  mass  of  San  Francisco's 
great  cosmopolitan  population  holds  holiday  and  the 
great  feature  of  the  holiday  is  a  restaurant  dinner, 
where  there  is  music,  and  glitter,  and  joyous,  human 

121 


APPENDIX 


HOW  TO  SERVE  WINES 

A  few  hints  regarding  the  proper  serving  of  wines  may  not 
be  amiss,  and  we  give  you  here  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  the 
most  noted  gourmets  who  liave  made  a  study  of  the  best  results 
from  combinations: 

Never  drink  any  hard  liquors,  such  as  whisky,  brandy,  gin, 
or  cocktails,  with  oysters  or  clams,  as  it  is  liable  to  upset  you 
for  the  rest  of  the  evening. 

With  the  hor  d'ouvres  serve  vermouth,  sherry,  marsala  or 
madeira  wine. 

With  soup  and  fish  serve  white  wines,  such  as  Rhein  wine, 
sauterne  or  white  burgundy. 

With  entrees  serve  clarets  or  other  red  wines,  such  as 
Swiss,  Bordeaux,  Hungarian  or  Italian  wines. 

Burgundy  may  also  be  served  at  any  of  the  later  courses. 

With  roasts  serve  champagne  or  any  of  the  sparkling  wines. 

With  the  coffee  serve  kirsch,  French  brandy  or  fine  cham- 
pagne. 

After  coff"ee  serve  a  liqueur.  Never  serve  more  than  one 
glass  of  any  liqueur. 

The  following  wines  may  be  considered  the  best  types: 
Amontillado,  Montilo  and  Olorosa  sherries. 
Austrian  burgundy  is  one  of  the  finest  wines,  possessing 
rich  flavor  and  fine  perfume. 

Other  burgundies  are: 

Chablis:    A  white  burgundy,  dry  and  of  agreeable  aroma. 

Chambertin:  A  sound,  delicate  wine  with  a  flavor  resem- 
ling  raspberry. 

Clos  de  Vogeot:  Similar  to  chambertin,  and  often  called 
the  king  of  burgundy. 

Romance:  A  very  rare  and  costly  wine  of  rich,  ruby  color, 
with  a  delicate  bouquet. 

Clarets  are  valued  for  their  flavor  and  for  their  tonic  prop- 
erties.   Some  of  the  best  are: 

Chateau  Grille:  A  dessert  wine  of  good  flavor  and  fine 
aroma. 

Chateau  Lafitte:    Has  beautiful  color  and  delicate  flavor. 

Chateau  la  Rose:  Greater  alcoholic  strength  and  of  fine 
flavor. 

Chateau  Margaux :  Rich,  with  delicate  flavor  and  excellent 
bouquet. 

Pontet  Canet:  A  heavier  wine  with  good  bouquet  and  fine 
flavor. 

St.  Julien :    A  lighter  claret  with  good  bouquet. 

i27 


HOW  TO  SERVE  WINES 

German  wines  are  of  lighter  cliaracter,  and  are  generally 
termed  Rhein  wines.    The  best  varieties  are: 

Hochheiraer:    A  light,  pleasing  and  wholesome  wine. 

Brauneberger:  A  good  variety  with  pleasing  flavor  and 
aroma. 

Dreimanner:    Similar  to  Brauneberger. 

Dcidesheimer:    Similar  to  Brauneberger. 

Graflenberg:    Light  and  pleasant.    Good  aroma. 

Johannisberger  Schloss:  One  of  the  best  of  the  German 
wines. 

Rudcsheimer  Schloss:    In  class  with  Johannisberger. 

Italian  wines  are  mostly  red,  the  most  noted  in  California 
being  Chianti,  and  its  California  prototype,  Tipo  Chianti,  made 
by  the  Asti  Colony. 

Lacrima  Christi  Spumanti:  The  finest  Italian  champagne. 
Dry  and  of  magnificent  bouquet. 

Yin  d'Oro  Spumanti:  A  high-class  champagne.  Sweet  and 
of  fine  bouquet  and  flavor. 

Lacrima  Christi:  A  still  wine  of  excellent  flavor  and  bou- 
quet. 

Malaga:  A  wine  of  high  repute.  Sweet  and  powerful.  A 
peculiar  flavor  is  given  to  it  through  the  addition  of  a  small 
quantity  of  burned  wine. 

Marsala:  Is  a  golden  wine  of  most  agreeable  color  and 
aroma. 

Sauterne:  Is  a  white  Bordeaux,  a  strong  luscious  wine, 
the  best  known  varieties  being: 

Chateau  Yquem:  Remarkable  for  its  rich  and  velvety  soft- 
ness. 

Barsac:    Rich  and  good. 

Chateau  Filhot:    Of  rich  color  and  good  flavor. 

Chateau  Latour  Blanche:  A  white  sauterne  of  exquisite 
bouquet. 

Haut  Sauterne:    Soft  and  mild.    Of  good  flavor. 

Vin  de  Graves:    Good  and  strong.    Good  aroma  and  flavor. 

"Vintage  years  have  much  to  do  with  the  quality  of  wines. 
The  best  vintage  years  are  as  follows: 
Champagnes:    1892. 
Rhein  and  Moselle:    1803. 
Rurgundv:    1892,  1899  and  1904. 
Claret:    1898  and  1904. 
Port:    1890  and  1904. 
Sherrv:    1882,  1890,  1898  and  1900. 


12S 


A  GOOD  BOHEMIAN  DINNER 

Sometimes  people  desire  to  give  a  dinner  and  are  at  loss 
as  to  the  proper  time  to  serve  wines.  The  following  menu  will 
give  some  ideas  on  the  subject: 


MENU 

Gibson  Cocktail  Canape  Norwegian 

(Serve  these  before  entering  dining  room) 

Artichoke  Hearts  in  Oil  Ripe  Olives  Celery 

Amontillado  Sherry 

Oysters  on  Half  Shell 

Bisque  of  Ecrevisse  Chablis,  or  White  Sauterne 

Sand-dabs  Edward  VH  Sliced  Cucumbers,  Iced 

Escargot  Francais  Chateau  Lafitte 

Cassolette  of  Terrapin,  Maryland  Romanee 

Tagliarini  des  Beaux  Arts 

Punch  Pistache  Cigarettes 

Alligator  Pears  with  Cumquats,  French  Dressing 


Chicken  Portola 
Creamed  New  Potatoes 


Coffee  Royal 


Krug  Private  Cuvee  Brut 
Celery  Victor  French  Peas 


Zabaione 
Reina  Cabot 

Grand  Marnier 


Cigarettes 


129 


A  FEW  RARE  RECIPES 

In  our  travels  through  Boliemia  it  has  been  our  good  for- 
tune to  gather  hundreds  of  recipes  of  new,  strange  and  rare 
dishes,  prepared  by  those  who  look  farther  than  the  stoking  of 
the  physical  system  in  the  preparation  of  foods.  Some  of  these 
are  from  chefs  in  restaurants  and  hotels,  some  from  men  and 
women  of  the  foreign  colonies  and  some  from  good  friends 
who  lent  their  aid  in  our  pleasurable  occupation.  That  we  can- 
not print  them  all  in  a  volume  of  this  size  is  our  regret,  but 
anotlicr  book  now  in  preparation  will  contain  them,  together 
with  other  talks  about  San  Francisco's  foreign  quarters. 

From  our  store  we  have  selected  the  following  as  being 
well  worth  trying: 

0\I0\  ^"*  ^^^^  large  onions  in  large  pieces  and 

SOUP  P^*  them  in  six  ounces  of  butter  with  pep- 

per and  salt.  Slowly  stew  this  in  a  little 
beef  stock  and  a  little  milk,  stirring  constantly,  for  one  hour. 
Add  more  stock  and  milk  and  let  cook  slowly  for  another  hour. 
In  a  tureen  place  slices  of  bread  sprinkled  with  two  tablespoon- 
fuls  of  Parmesan  cheese.  Beat  the  yolks  of  four  eggs  and  mix 
them  with  a  tablespoonful  of  the  soup  and  pour  this  over  the 
bread  and  cheese.  Cover  this  for  five  minutes  and  then  pour 
over  it  the  rest  of  the  soup. 

CREOLE  Take  two  young  chickens,  cut  in  pieces, 

Cl'MBO  SOUP  r<^^l  ^"  flour  and  fry  to  light  brown.  Take 
the  fried  chicken,  a  ham  bone  stripped  of 
meat  for  flavor,  a  tablespoonful  of  chopped  thyme,  of  rose- 
mary, two  bay  leaves,  a  sprig  of  tarragon  and  boil  in  four 
quarts  of  water  until  the  meat  loosens  from  the  bones.  Slice 
and  fry  brown  two  large  onions  and  add  two  heaping  quarts  of 
sliced  okra  and  one  cut  up  pod  of  red  pepper.  Stir  all  over 
the  fire  until  the  okra  is  thoroughly  wilted  then  remove  the 
larper  bones  and  let  cook  three  quarters  of  an  hour  before 
serving.  Half  an  hour  before  serving  add  a  can  of  tomatoes  or 
an  equal  quantity  of  fresh  ones,  and  a  pint  of  shrimps,  boiled 
and  shredded.  Have  a  dish  of  well  boiled  and  dry  rice  and 
serve  with  two  or  three  tablespoonfuls  in  each  soup  plate. 

OYS'l'l-ll  To  a  solid  pint  of  oysters  use  a  dressing 

SALAD  made  as  follows:     Beat  well  two  eggs  and 

add  to  them  half  a  gill  each  of  cream  and 
vinegar,  half  teaspoonful  mustard,  celery  seed,  salt  each,  one- 
tenth  teaspoonful  cayenne,  and  a  tablespoonful  of  butter.  Put 
all  in  a  double  boiler  and  cook  until  it  all  is  as  thick  as  soft 
custard   (about  six  minutes),  stirring  constantly.     Take  from 

130 


A  FEW  RARE  RECIPES 

the  fire.  Heat  the  oysters  in  their  own  liquor  to  a  boiling  point 
then  drain  and  add  the  dressing,  mixing  lightly.  Set  away  in 
cold  place  until  needed. 

Soak  two  salt  herrings  in  milk  over  ITALIAN 

night  and  then  remove  the  bones  and  skin  SALAD 

and  cut  up  in  small  pieces.     Cut  in  small 

pieces  one  and  one-half  pounds  each  of  cold  roast  veal  and  cold 
boiled  tongue  and  add  to  these  and  the  herrings  six  boiled  po- 
tatoes, half  a  dozen  small  cucumber  pickles  and  two  small 
boiled  beets,  all  cut  up,  and  two  raw  apples,  three  boiled  car- 
rots and  one  large  boiled  celery  root,  all  minced.  Mix  all  the 
above  in  salad  bowl  and  pour  over  it  mayonnaise  dressing. 
Garnish  the  tops  with  hard  boiled  eggs,  sliced,  and  capers,  and 
ripe  olives  from  which  the  stones  have  been  removed.  Garnish 
the  bowl  with  parsley  and  in  the  center  put  hard  boiled  eggs 
stuffed  with  capers. 

Take  meat  of  crab  in  large  pieces  and  SOLARI'S 

dress  with  the  following:    One-third  may-         CRAB  LOUIS 
onnaise,  two-thirds  chili  sauce,  small  quan- 
tity chopped  English  chow-chow,  a  little  Worcestershire  sauce 
and  minced  tarragon,  shallots  and  sweet  parsley.    Season  with 
salt  and  pepper  and  keep  on  ice. 

Take  fillets  of  sole  and  pound  lightly  SOLES 

with  blade  of  knife  then  soak  them  two         WITH  WINE 
hours  in  beaten  eggs  seasoned  with  salt 

and  pepper.  When  ready  to  cook  roll  them  in  bread  crumbs 
and  fry  in  olive  oil.  Take  a  little  of  that  oil  and  put  in  another 
pan  with  a  tablespoonful  of  butter  and  season  with  salt  and 
pepper  and  again  cook  fish  in  this,  adding  half  a  glass  of  dry 
white  wine.  Sprinkle  with  chopped  parsley  and  let  cook  five 
minutes.  Sprinkle  with  Parmesan  cheese  and  put  slices  of 
lemon  around  it.    Serve  on  hot  plates. 

Skin  and  remove  stalks  from  large  fresh  GRILLED 

mushrooms  and  lay  on  a  dish  with  a  little        MUSHROOMS 
fine  olive  oil,  pepper,  and  salt,  over  them 

for  one  hour.  Broil  on  a  gridiron  over  a  clear  sharp  fire  and 
serve  them  with  the  following  sauce: 

Mince  the  stalks  or  any  spare  pieces         MUSHROOM 
of  mushrooms  fine,  put  in  a  stewpan  with  SAUCE 

a  little  broth,  some  chopped  parsley,  young 

onions,  butter  and  the  juice  of  a  lemon,  or  instead  of  the  latter 
the  yolk  of  an  egg  beaten  up  in  cream.  Beat  all  together  and 
pour  around  the  mushrooms. 

131 


A  FEW  RARE  RECIPES 

ITALIAN  ^"*    ^'^^y    ^^"^    *'^^    tender    part    of    one 

TL'RT\  dozen  artichokes.     Take  one  loaf  of  stale 

bread  crumbs,  moisten  and  squeeze,  and 
add  three  tablespoonfuls  of  grated  cheese,  three  cloves  of  garlic, 
bruised,  one  onion  chopped  fine,  several  sprigs  of  parsley 
chopped  fine,  a  little  celer\'  and  half  a  cup  of  olive  oil.  Mix  all 
together  thoroughly  \vith  plenty  of  pepper  and  salt  and  make 
into  a  loaf.    Bake  slowly  forty-five  minutes. 

OEUFS  Poach  eight  fresh  eggs  then  take  them  out 

AU  SOLIEL  ^"^   place   in   cold   water  until  cool;   lay 

them  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  marinade 

in  a  glass  of  white  wine  with  sweet  herbs.    Dry  on  a  cloth  and 

dip  in  a  batter  of  flour  mixed  with  equal  quantities  of  ale  and 

water  to  the  consistency  of  double  cream.    Fry  to  light  brown. 

EGGS  WITH          ^"*  three  cupfuls  of  red  wine  into  a  cas- 
WINE  serole    and    add    three    tablespoonfuls    of 

sugar,  rind  of  half  a  lemon,  raisins,  and 
sweet  almonds,  blanched  and  chopped.  When  the  wine  boils 
break  the  eggs  into  it  as  in  poaching  eggs.  Let  them  cook  well 
and  then  put  in  serving  dish.  Add  one  tablespoonful  of  flour 
to  the  wine  and  cook  to  a  cream  then  pour  over  the  eggs, 

ITALIAN  Soak  two  level  teacups  of  rice.    Mash  two 

RISOTTO  cloves    of    garlic    and    mix    with    a    little 

minced  parsley.  Soak  a  dozen  dried  mush- 
rooms in  a  little  water  until  soft,  then  chop  fine  and  drain. 
Cover  the  bottom  of  a  saucepan  with  olive  oil,  place  over  the 
fire  until  quite  hot,  then  put  in  the  garlic,  parsley,  and  mush- 
rooms, add  half  a  can  of  tomatoes  and  cook  half  an  hour. 
Drain  the  rice  and  put  in  a  saucepan,  adding  a  little  broth,  half 
a  cup  at  a  time,  to  keep  from  burning,  and  add,  stirring  con- 
stantly, the  other  ingredients,  cooking  all  together  until  the  rice 
is  done.    Salt  to  taste;  sprinkle  with  Parmesan  cheese. 

SCALLOPS  OF       Parboil  the  sweetbreads  and  then  glaze  in 

SWEETBREAD       reduced  Allcmande  sauce.     Dip  in  bread 

crumbs   and    fry    in    butter   until    a   light 

brown.     When  done  dish  in  close  order  and  fill  center  with 

Toulouse  Ragout,  as  follows: 

TOULOUSE  Prepare   half   a   dozen   fine,   large   cocks- 

R  \GOU'i'  ^  combs,  two  dozen  bulton  mushrooms,  small 

pieces  of  sweetbreads  and  a  proportionate 

quantity  of  truffles.     Place  all  in  a  stcwpan  and  add  a  small 

ladleful  of  drawn  butter  sauce,  and  the  juice  of  a  lemon.    Cook 

a  few  minutes. 

132 


A  FEW  RARE  RECIPES 

Soak  kidney  lamb  chops  in  the  follow-      LAMB  CHOPS 
ing  mixture   for   twelve   hours   and   then        MARINADE 
broil:     Four  tablespoonfuls  olive  oil,  one 

tablespoonful  tarragon  vinegar,  one  small  sliced  onion,  one 
mashed  clove  of  garlic,  one  broken  up  bay  leaf,  twelve  whole 
black  peppers,  six  cloves,  one  saltspoon  of  salt,  two  teaspoon- 
fuls  dried  thyme,  strips  of  parsley  and  lemon  peel. 

Cut  up  a  chicken  and  boil  until  tender.  SPANISH 

Cut  up  and  fry  in  chicken  fat  two  onions,         CHICKEN  PIE 
two   green   peppers,   stirring   in   one   and 

one-half  tablespoonfuls  of  flour.  Have  ready  five  tomatoes, 
stewed,  and  put  in  two  dozen  ripe  olives  with  a  small  clove  of 
garlic,  mashed.  Grate  seven  large  ears  of  corn,  season  with  salt 
and  put  a  layer  in  a  greased  baking  pan,  then  chicken,  then  the 
other  ingredients,  with  a  little  of  the  gravy.  Stir  all  together 
and  bake  until  brown. 

Cut  a  young  chicken  into  small  pieces  CHICKEN 

and  stew  until  tender,  having  the  meat  cov-        JAMBALAYA 
ered  with  the  broth  when  done.    Remove 

the  meat,  drain  and  fry  to  light  brown  with  two  slices  of  onion. 
Put  in  the  chicken,  onion,  and  one  hundred  California  oysters, 
back  into  the  broth  and  season  with  salt,  pepper,  juice  of  a 
lemon,  bruised  clove  of  garlic,  chopped  green  pepper,  and  a 
pinch  of  red  pepper.  Let  all  come  to  a  boil.  Wash  and  dry 
two  cups  of  rice  and  put  into  the  soup  and  cook  until  thor- 
oughly done  and  moderately  dry  (twenty-five  minutes).  Serve 
hot  or  cold. 

This  is  Mexican  Turkey  in  Red  Pep-  QUAJATALE 

per,  a  favorite  banquet  dish.    Cut  a  young  EN  MOLE 

turkey   into   small   pieces   and   boil  with 

shallots  and  salt.  Take  half  a  pound  of  red  peppers,  scalded 
and  seeded,  and  grind  fine  with  black  peppers,  celery  seed, 
cloves,  allspice,  and  mustard  (about  half  a  teaspoonful  of  each) 
and  add  to  this  some  of  the  broth  in  which  the  turkey  was 
cooked.  Put  a  pound  of  lard  in  a  skillet  and,  when  boiling, 
put  in  the  mixture  with  the  turkey  and  let  cook  ten  minutes, 
sending  it  to  the  table  hot. 

Brown  butter  in  a  skillet  and  stir  in  DELMONICO 

a  teaspoonful  of  flour,  forming  a  smooth        RAISIN  SAUCE 
paste.     Add  one  cup  of  hot  soup   stock, 

stirring  constantly.  While  boiling  put  into  this  a  handful  of 
raisins,  handful  of  blanched  almonds,  pounded,  half  a  lemon, 
sliced  thin,  a  few  cloves,  a  pinch  of  cinnamon,  and  a  little 
horseradish.    Fine  for  roast  beef. 

133 


A  FEW  RARE  RECIPES 

POULET  ^"*   ^^^   trim    a    chicken    as    for    fricas- 

\  LA  NAPOLI      ^^^'     i^ke  ^^^  wings,  drumsticks,  thighs 

and  two  pieces   of  the  breast   and   steep 

them  in  cold  water  half  an  hour.     Drain  and  wipe  dry  and 

dust  over  with  Hour  and  set  aside. 

Take  the  rest  of  the  chicken  with  the  giblets  and  chop 
small.  \Vith  water  let  this  simmer  for  two  hours,  making  a 
strong  broth  with  a  little  veal  (two  ounces  or  more).  Slice  an 
onion  into  rings  which  place  in  the  bottom  of  a  stewpan  with 
an  ounce  of  butter.  To  this  add  the  meat  and  giblets  and  a 
pint  of  white  broth.  Let  all  simmer  but  not  boil  or  let  color. 
Over  this  pour  common  broth  until  covered  and  bring  slowly 
to  boiling  point.  Add  a  small  bouquet  of  herbs  and  simmer 
for  an  hour,  then  strain.  Thicken  a  little  and  then  simmer  in 
this  the  stalks  and  peelings  of  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  mush- 
rooms and  the  chicken  that  was  previously  prepared  and 
dusted  with  flour.  When  done  strain  them  and  drain  the 
chicken.  Strain  the  sauce  and  thicken  with  Hour  until  it  is 
of  the  consistency  of  a  rather  thin  batter. 

Dip  the  pieces  of  chicken  into  the  batter  until  well  coated 
and  set  aside  until  it  is  cold.  Then  dip  the  chicken  into  well- 
beaten  eggs  and  cover  with  bread  crumbs.  Let  set  and  then  re- 
peat. In  hot  olive  oil  fry  the  chicken  until  a  golden  brown.  Serve 
on  a  napkin  and  garnish  with  parsley  and  potatoes  Duchesse. 
Cook  the  peeled  mushrooms  in  the  remaining  sauce  before  the 
last  thickening,  and  serve  in  gravy  boat  to  pour  over  the 
chicken. 

ZABAIONE  Beat  together,  hard,  for  six  minutes,  six 

eggs  and  four  teaspoonfuls  of  powdered 
sugar  in  a  double  boiler  and  place  over  a  gentle  lire,  never  ceas- 
ing to  whip  until  the  contents  become  stiff  enough  to  sustain  a 
coffee  spoon  upright  in  the  middle.  While  whipping  add  three 
wineglassfuls  of  Marsala  and  one  liqueur  glass  of  Maraschino 
brandy.  Pour  into  tall  glasses  or  cups  and  serve  either  hot 
or  cold. 

PLAUllbSALA  Halve  six  fine  peaches,  not  too  ripe,  and 
PHINXESSE  place  in  saucepan  with  concave  side  up. 
Take  one  peach,  peeled,  and  mince  with  a 
dozen  macaroons,  adding  the  yolk  of  an  egg  and  half  an  ounce 
of  sugar.  Mix  all  well  together  and  with  this  fdl  the  half 
peaches.  Moisten  all  with  half  a  cup  of  white  wine  and 
sprinkle  with  sugar.  Bake  in  a  hot  oven  ten  minutes  and  pour 
over  zabaione  and  serve.  This  will  make  a  most  delicious 
dessert  dish. 

134 


A  FEW  RARE  RECIPES 

Add  the  beaten  yolks  of  seven  eggs  to 
one  pint  of  boiling  milk,  one  cup  of  sugar,  SULTANA 

one-half  teaspoonful  of  vanilla,  one-quarter  ROLL 

teaspoonful  of  almond  extract.  When  thick  add  two  and  a  half 
cups  of  thick  cream.  Cool  and  freeze.  Line  the  bottom  of  a 
mold  with  Sultana  raisins  which  have  been  soaked  in  sherry 
wine  twenty-four  hours.  Put  a  layer  of  frozen  cream,  then 
raisins,  continuing  until  all  is  used.  Pack  in  ice  and  salt  two 
hours  and  serve  with  caramel  sauce. 

Butter  the  inside  of  a  saucepan.    Put  rvR/vMPT 

in  two  ounces  of  unsweetened  chocolate  ^^irrF 

and  melt  over  hot  water.    Add  two  cups  of  bALLn 

light  brown  sugar  and  mix  well.  Add  one  ounce  of  butter  and 
half  a  cup  of  rich  milk.  Cook  until  mixture  forms  a  soft  ball 
when  tested  in  cold  water.  Flavor  with  vanilla  and  pour,  while 
hot,  over  each  service  of  the  roll.  It  immediately  hardens, 
forming  a  delicious  caramel  covering  to  the  ice  cream. 

Take   one   pound    of   mild   American  \vt7t  qm 

cheese   and  put  in   saucepan.      Add   five  oAR^nrr 

wineglassful  of  old  ale,  place  over  the  fire  RAREBir 

and  stir  until  it  is  thoroughly  blended  and  melted.  Pour  this 
over  slices  of  delicately  browned  toast,  serving  hot. 

Take  of  the  best  Mocha  coffee  one  part, 
of  the  best  Java  coffee  two  parts.    Put  six  COFFEE 

tablespoonfuls  of  the  mixture  into  a  bowl  ROYAL 

and  add  an  egg,  well  beaten.  Stir  the  mixture  five  minutes.  Add 
half  a  cup  of  cold  water,  cover  tightly  and  let  stand  several 
hours.  Put  into  a  coffeepot  the  coffee  mixture  and  add  four 
large  cups  of  boiling  water,  stirring  constantly.  Let  it  boil 
briskly  for  five  minutes  only  then  set  on  the  back  of  the  stove 
five  minutes.  Before  serving  add  a  small  tablespoonful  of  pure 
French  brandy  to  each  cup.    Sweeten  to  taste. 

Mix  at  table  and  serve  on  hot,  toasted  rftna 

Bent's  biscuit.    Take  a  quarter  of  a  pound  rVROT 

of  ripe,  dark  Roquefort  cheese  and  rub 

with  a  piece  of  butter  the  size  of  a  walnut  until  smooth,  adding 
a  teaspoonful  of  Worcestershire  sauce  and  a  wineglassful  of 
sherry,  with  a  pinch  of  paprika,  rubbing  until  it  is  smooth. 
This  is  best  mixed  in  shallow  bowl  or  soup  plate. 

Beat  separately  the  yolks  and  whites  VTRTTXTA 

of  ten  eggs,  the  yolks  to  a  soft  cream.    To  "prr  \Tnrr 

the  beaten  yolks  add  one  pound  of  granu-  ^^^  isubu 

lated  sugar,  beating  until  fully  blended  and  very  light.  Let  one 
quart  of  fresh  milk  come  to  a  boil  and  pour  over  the  yolk  of 

135 


A  FEW  RARE  RECIPES 

egg  and  sugar,  stirring  constantly  until  well  blended.  To  this 
add  one  gill  of  French  brandy  or  one-half  pint  of  good  whisky. 
On  top  of  this  place  the  beaten  white  of  egg  and  grated  nutmeg. 
Serve  either  hot  or  cold. 

MINT  Bruise   several   sprigs  of   mint   in   a  mix- 

JULEP  ^"S  glass  with  pulverized  sugar.     Fill  the 

glass  with  ice  and  pour  over  it  a  jigger  of 

whisky.     Let  stand  for  ten  minutes  and  then  put  in  a  dash  of 

Jamaica  rum.     Dress  with  sprigs  of  mint,  and  sprinkle  with 

powdered  sugar.    Serve  with  straws. 


136 


INDEX 

Bills  of  Fare     .      100, 101, 129 

Beefsteak  Spanish        .  9 

Celery  Victor   ...      64 

Chicken,  Country  Style  65 

In  the  Shell         .         .11 

Jambalaya       .         .         133 

Leon  d'Oro  .         .      53 

A  la  Napoli     .         .         134 

Pie  (Spanish)      .         .    133 

Portola    ...  38 

Chili  Rienas     ...      32 

Clam  Fritters       .         .  92 

Chowder      ...      92 

Coffee  Royal        .         .         135 

Crab  Louis        .         .         .    131 

Stew        ...  88 

Dessert  (Italian)       .         .      75 

Egg  Nog  (Virginia)       .         135 

Eggs,  Spanish  ...        9 

With  Wine     .        .        132 

Des  Soliel    .         .         .132 

Fish:   Soles  with  Wine       131 

Sole  Edward  VII         .      64 

Sand-dab  Fillet,  Cold       61 

Fritto  Misto      ...      51 

Lobster  a  la  Newburg .  86 

Lamb  Chops  Marinade     .    133 

Mussels  Mariniere        .  93 

Mushrooms,  Grilled  .         .131 

Mint  Julep    ...         136 

Menu  (Model)  .         .         .129 

Oysters  a  la  Catalan    .  83 

A  la  Poulette       .        .17 

Omelette  .         .  60 

Peaches  a  la  Princesse     .    134 

Planked  Fillet  Mignon  61 

Polenti      ....      99 

Quajatole  en  Mole        .         133 

Rice,  Spanish   ...        9 

Milanaise         .         .  51 

Italian  .         .         .132 

Riena  Cabot         .        .        135 

Salad,  Italian    .        .        .131 

Palace  Grill    .        .  62 

Oyster  .         .         .130 

Sauer  Braten        .        .  48 

Sauce,  Delmonico  Raisin       33 

Caramel  .         .         135 

Mushroom   .         .         .131 

Scrapple       ...  97 

Shrimp  Creole,  Antoine  .     84 


Snails  Bordelaise          .  53 

Soup:  Bisque  of  Crawfish  89 
Creole  Gumbo  .  130 
Onion  .         .         .130 

Sultana  Roll  .  .  135 
Sweetbreads  Scalloped  .  132 
Turta  (Italian)  .  .  132 
Toulous  Ragout  .  .132 
Tamales        ...  98 

Tagliarini  des  Beaux  Arts  117 
Terrapin  a  la  Maryland  18 

Wines,  How  to  Serve  .  127 
Welsh  Rarebit  .  .  135 
Zabaoine  .         .         .    134 

Restaurants 

Blanco's  .  .  17, 42 
Bonini's  Barn  .  44 

Buon  Gusto  .         .      25 

Castilian  .         .  44 

Coppa's  ...  36 
Fashion,  Charlie's  .  44 

Felix  .  .  .  17.43 
Fior  d'ltalia    .         .  25 

Fly  Trap  ...  44 
Frank's   ...  43 

Fred  Solari's  .  .  65 
Gianduja  .         .  50 

Hang  Far  Low  .  .  55 
Heidelberg  Inn       .  46 

Hof  Brau  ...  48 
Hotel  St.  Francis    .  63 

Jack's  ...      43 

Jule's  .  .  .  25,44 
La  Madrelina  .  .  44 
Leon  d'Oro     .         .  52 

Luna's  ...      31 

Mint  .  .  .  15.43 
Negro's  ...  43 
Odeon      ...  44 

Palace  Hotel  .  19,60 
Poodle  Dog  .  .  17,42 
Poodle  Dog — Bergez- 


Frank's 
Portola-Louvre 
Rathskeller 
Shell  Fish  Grotto 
Solari's 
Tail's 
Techau's 
Vesuvius 
Old  Time  Restaurants 


16.43 

41 
.      48 

80 
.      65 

42 
.      42 

81 

137 


INDEX 


Bab's        ...  27 

Baldwin  Hotel  .  .18 
Bazzuro's  .  .  12,  78 
Bergez  .         .         .17 

California  House    .  13 

Call  .  .  .  .  IG 
Captain  Cropper    .  18 

Campi's  ...  25 
Christian  Good        .  14 

Cliir  House  .         .      21 

Cobweb  Palace       .  19 

Delmonico  .  .  .  16 
El  Dorado  House    .  10 

Frank's  .  .  .17 
Gobey's   ...  87 

Good  Fellows'  Grotto  .  26 
Hollinan  House       .  26 

Iron  House  ...  10 
Johnson's  Oyster  House  14 
Jack's  .         .         .17 

Louvre    ...  26 

Ma  Tanta  .  .  .12 
Manning's        .         .  13 


Marchand's 
Marshall's  Chop 
Martin's 
Maison  Doree 
Nevada 
New  York 
Old  Louvre 
Perini's   . 
Pierre 
Poodle  Dog 
Pup      . 
Peter  Job 
Palace  of  Art 
Pop  Floyd 
Reception    . 
Sanguinetti's 
Tehama  House 
Three  Trees 
Tortoni 
Thompson's 
Viticultural 
Zinkand's 


.  14 
House  14 
.      15 

17 
.      13 

17 
.      27 

14 
.      16 

16 
.      16 

17 
.      20 

25 
.      18 

23 
.      13 

17 
.  16 
27,41 
.      25 

27 


138 


HERE  END  BOHEMIAN  SAN  FRANCISCO- 
ITS  RESTAURANTS  AND  THEIR  MOST  FA- 
MOUS RECIPES,  AS  WRITTEN  BY  CLARENCE 
E.  EDWORDS.  PUBLISHED  IN  BOOK  FORM 
BY  PAUL  ELDER  &  COMPANY,  AND  SEEN 
THROUGH  THEIR  TOMOYE  PRESS  BY  JOHN 
SWART  IN  THE  CITY  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO. 
DURING  THE  MONTH  OF  NOVEMBER,  NINE- 
TEEN HUNDRED  AND  FOURTEEN. 


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